COVER SHEET

Transcription

COVER SHEET

COVER SHEET
Sim, Jeannie and Hudson, Brian and O'Hare, Danny and Armstrong, Helen
and Baker, Walter and Hayes, Lincoln T. (2001) Report 2: Thematic Study of
the Cultural Landscape of Queensland, Sim, Jeannie, Eds. . Cultural Landscape
Research Unit, QUT.
Accessed from http://eprints.qut.edu.au
Copyright 2001 Queensland University of Technology
Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes:
CONTESTED TERRAINS Series
Report 2:
THEMATIC STUDY
Cultural
OF THE
Landscape OF
Queensland
Verily, there seems pressing need of a new apostle to go to and fro in the land,
preaching everywhere what Ruskin calls the "duty of delight." A love of nature is
just as much a matter of cultivation as a love of virtue or of knowledge, or any
other desirable mental state, and its attainment must always form an essential
part of every right education. That any life should ever be allowed to grow stale,
flat, and unprofitable when there is much to learn and enjoy, is one of the
mysteries. See to it, brothers and sisters – you dwellers in the quiet homes
scattered over the hillsides, through the valleys, and on the broad plains of our
country – see to it, that you are not throwing away your birthright.
Source: Mackay, Angus (1875) The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist and Colonists’ Guide. Brisbane: Slater & Co. pg. 16
Edited by Jeannie Sim
PUBLISHING INFORMATION
REPORT 2: Thematic Study of the Cultural Landscape of Queensland
Edited by Jeannie Sim
ISBN 1 86435 519 0
Published by Cultural Landscape Research Unit, Queensland University of Technology,
GPO Box 2434,
Brisbane, Qld. 4001
The Project "Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS" was
funded by ARC-SPIRT grant (1997-1999). The participants in this project included members of
the Cultural Landscape Research Unit (QUT) with the industry partner being the Queensland
Government's Environmental Protection Agency (Cultural Heritage Branch).
Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS Series
Other publications from this project:
REPORT 1: Setting the Theoretical Scene
Edited by Helen Armstrong
ISBN 1 86435 518 2
REPORT 3: Contests and Management Issues
Edited by Helen Armstrong, Danny O'Hare and Jeannie Sim
ISBN 1 86435 520 4
REPORT 4: Reports of the Case Studies
Edited by Jeannie Sim and Helen Armstrong
ISBN 1 86435 521 2
© Authors and Cultural Landscape Research Unit (QUT) 2001.
ii
TABLE of CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY
Jeannie Sim
vi
Jeannie Sim
2
Brian Hudson
19
Danny O'Hare
24
Helen Armstrong
36
44
Walter Baker
52
Lincoln T. Hayes
56
Part 1: LANDSCAPE HISTORIES
1
CLIMATE: living in the tropics
People and their Environment – Getting to
Know the Queensland Climate – White People
can live in the Tropics – Shade and Sunshine in
Tropical Queensland – Climate and Cultivation
– Verandahs – Shady Urban Open Space –
Conclusion.
2
LAND: as the focus of Queensland's History
Aboriginal Queensland – Early European
Settlement – The 1860s, 1870s and 1880s – The
1890s to 1915 – 1915-1980.
3
DEVELOPMENT: the prime agent of change
Development as Progress – Establishing
Queensland as a Cultural Landscape of
Progress – A Cultural Landscape of
Development and Conflict – Conclusion.
4
MARGINAL GROUPS: the unofficial histories
– Overview of Marginal Groups in Queensland
– Migration to Queensland: Politics of Race and
Class
– Brief History of South Sea Islanders in
Queensland
– Cultural Landscapes of the Australian South Sea
Islanders: an indicative list of place types
iii
TABLE of CONTENTS
Part 2: LANDSCAPE AWARENESS
5
PERCEPTION: perceiving is more than seeing
Jeannie Sim
– Perception and Environmental Psychology
– Determining Landscape Character
– The Physical Landscapes of Queensland
– Landscape Design Theory
– Traditional Visual Analysis
– Landscape Meaning
6
66
Brian Hudson
70
Jeannie Sim
74
80
83
Helen Armstrong
96
Jeannie Sim
99
PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE: the Australian context
– Perceptions of Australia as a New World
– Distance and Isolation
– Antipodean and European Visions
101
– Cultural Landscape Interpretation through the
Arts
– Attitudes to Nature : Visions of Landscape
– Being a Queenslander (Being Different?).
7
61
Helen Armstrong and
Kim Watson
102
Jeannie Sim
112
120
INTERPRETING LANDSCAPE AS TEXT
Interpreting Landscape through
Phenomenological Hermeneutics
Helen Armstrong
122
List of Tables
v
List of Figures
v
iv
LISTS of TABLES and FIGURES
TABLES
TABLE 1: Symbolic Linkages of People and Land
49
TABLE 2: Aesthetics (Tom Heath's Design Notes 1989)
64
TABLE 3: Physical Regions of Queensland: a comparison
67
TABLE 4: Biogeographic & Landscape Regions of Queensland
68
TABLE 5: Regional Classifications in Queensland
69
TABLE 6: Notes about Visual Elements and Design Principles
81
TABLE 7: Notes about Landscape Visual Assessment
82
TABLE 8: Eras in evolving Australia environmental
visions and key elements
112
TABLE 9: Phases of the Phenomenological Method
124
TABLE 10: Criteria for Interpreting Texts
127
FIGURES
FIGURE 1: Griffith Taylor's Features of Tropical Australia
2
FIGURE 2: Griffith Taylor's Predicted 'Crescent of Settlement'
in Australia
4
FIGURE 3: Griffith Taylor's Natural Regions of Australia
7
FIGURE 4: Brunswick's Lens Model applied to
Environmental Perception
v
63
Thematic Study of Queensland
of the Queensland Landscape".2 This task
was soon recognised as too large and would
not meet the immediate needs of the project.
Nonetheless, it remains a worthy future goal
for those interested members of the research
team. Finding some more appropriate model
was required, and this process is reported in
the method section. To preface the thematic
study, this introductory is divided into four
sections: determining the scope; developing
a method; shaping a structure; and, writing
up the ideas.
INTRODUCTORY
by Jeannie Sim (editor)
The purpose of the current thematic study is
to provide a foundation for the interpretation
of cultural landscapes, with a focus on
Queensland, within Australia. Interpreting
cultural landscapes requires a theoretical
field to achieve scholarly strength. In
Australia, cultural landscape interpretations
have tended to be limited to heritage theory.1
In order to broaden an understanding of the
meanings embedded in Queensland's
cultural landscapes, a cultural theoretical
field has been developed for this project
which included a range of disciplinary
approaches including historiographical and
interpretative studies.
Determining the Scope
In Queensland, white settlement began in
1824 at Moreton Bay, but Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples lived here for
thousands of years prior to that relatively
recent date in history. Part of the landscape
histories included here, is the recognition of
many different groups and different
influences, typically ignored in traditional
(socio-economic) histories. Thus, one major
objective in this thematic study was to be as
inclusive as possible in an effort to broaden
the scope or field of interest. Mixing
different disciplines and their respective
theoretical backgrounds proved a rewarding
strategy, with the work of physical and
cultural geographers being particularly
helpful in this regard. While the scope of
this thematic study is broad, it does not
pretend to be the complete or the most
comprehensive description. It is offered as a
fresh approach to interpreting cultural
landscapes within the Queensland context.
The Thematic Study publication (Report 2)
is one component of an ARC-SPIRT project
called "Investigating Queensland's Cultural
Landscapes: CONTESTED TERRAINS",
lead by Professor Helen Armstrong at the
School of Design and Built Environment
(formerly School of Design and Built
Environment) at the Queensland University
of Technology (QUT) with industry partner
the Cultural Heritage Branch of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
Queensland. Four Reports were prepared for
publication from this project – refer
publication information page.
Preparing the historical background for the
Contested Terrains project began with the
intention of writing a traditional and
thorough history to be called "The Making
1
The collaborative effort of many members
of the research team (and invited colleagues)
have produced a multi-dimensional and
theoretical rich result. This thematic study
For example: Armstrong, H.B. (1989), "Urban and Rural
Avenues in the Australian Landscape." Landscape
Research. Vol. 14, No. 2. pp 22-26 ; Armstrong, H.B.
(1991) "Environmental Heritage Survey." unpublished
report for Cultural Landscape Research Unit, UNSW ;
Taylor, K. (1989), "Conservation and Interpretation
Study of the Rural Heritage Landscape of the LanyonLambrigg Area ACT." In Historic Environment VII(2).
16-23 ; Taylor, K. (1993), "Reading and interpreting the
cultural landscape" in Canberra Historical Journal. Series
31. Pub. By Canberra & Distict Historical Society. 29.Taylor, Ken (1992), "A Symbolic Australian
Landscape: Images in Writing and Painting," Landscape
Journal 11 (2), pp. 127-43.
2
vi
Based on the excellent precedents set by Hoskins, W.G.
(1988), The Making of the English Landscape. (first
published 1955), London: Penguin (reworked as:
Hoskins, W.G. and Christopher Taylor (1992), The
Making of the English Landscape. London: Hodder and
Stoughton); Rackham, Oliver (1986), The History of the
Countryside. (2nd edition 1995) London: J. M. Dent; and
Rackham, Oliver (1990), Trees and Woodland in the
British Landscape, revised edition (first edition published
in 1976), London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. These works
combine archaeological findings, documentary evidence
and environmental or physical site evidence to produce
meticulous histories of landscapes.
c
consists of both original research3 and
analyses of existing published accounts,
from a range of disciplines, including
history. It is believed that this depth and
breadth of information should prove most
helpful in subsequent work on heritage
conservation and management (especially in
the identification of values for and meanings
of the cultural landscape).
Western Australian History for the
Australian Heritage Commission in 1994:5
(1) Tracing the evolution of a continent's
special environments
(2) Peopling the continent
(3) Developing an Australian economy
linked to world markets
(4) Building Australian towns / cities
(5) Working in Australia
(6) Educating Australians
(7) Governing Australia
(8) Developing
Australian
cultural
institutions and ways of life
(9) Marking phases in the Australian life
cycle.
This approach used active language (doing
things) to describe the traditional socioeconomic history themes as a structure for
both historical research and its related
written presentation (text). It continues the
distinction between cultural heritage and
natural heritage that is represented by
traditional socio-economic history and
environmental history. These distinctions
between different aspects of heritage and of
history were considered inappropriate for
this thematic study. By broadening our field
of interest, we hoped to bring a change of
attitude towards these distinctions – by
linking and enmeshing them in the text –
just as history and geography are vital
components
in
any
comprehensive
understanding of cultural landscapes.
Developing a Method
Several approaches were used to research
and present the findings in this thematic
study. Traditional historiography was
explored extensively. Additionally, theories
of phenomenology and hermeneutics were
investigated and an overview of this kind of
interpretation of landscape as text is
included separately (see the final section of
this publication). A comparative review of
recent approaches in structuring history
texts, revealed the increasing use of thematic
approaches instead of the traditional
chronological narratives.4 Using local
Australian and Queensland sources, five
examples were investigated. The thematic
arrangements studied emphasised 'land use'
as the foundation to their themes, with scant
attention paid to identifying the attitudes,
perceptions and interpretations of land,
climate and nature. This observation can be
verified in the following brief descriptions
of examples of thematic histories examined.
The second example used thematic
subheadings
within
a
traditional
chronological structure, but also contained
distinctive
thematic
names
(called
descriptors) for the historical eras identified.
As Rod Fisher's and Ross Johnston's essay
focused on South East Queensland, it was
considered particularly relevant to the
current work.6 The chronological layering of
their structure was:
The first example of a thematic approach to
writing history cited here, has acted as a
catalyst to many heritage texts produced
since 1995. This list of nine historical
themes was developed by the Centre for
3
4
Sim, Jeannie (1999) "Designed Landscapes in
Queensland, 1859-1939: experimentation – adaptation –
innovation", unpublished PhD thesis, Queensland
University of Technology; Armstrong, Helen (2000),
"Cultural Pluralism within cultural Heritage: Migrant
Place-making in Australia", unpublished PhD thesis,
UNSW ; and, Hayes, Lincoln T. (forthcoming) "Pacific
Islanders on Queensland Plantations: archaeological
landscapes of power and survival in the 19th Century."
Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. James Cook University.
Sim, Jeannie, "Appendix D", In "Discussion Paper 3"
(June 1999), an unpublished report, part of the
"Investigating Queensland's Cultural Landscapes:
CONTESTED TERRAINS" Project.
vii
5
The expanded explanation of these thematic history
headings can be found in: Pearson, Michael & Sharon
Sullivan (1995), Looking After Heritage Places: The
Basics of Heritage Planning for Managers, Landowners
and Administrators. Melbourne: University of
Melbourne Press, Appendix 3, pp. 326-332.
6
Fisher, Rod and Ross Johnston (1995), "Historical
Heritage Essay," Volume 2 of South East Queensland
2001 Region Cultural Heritage Places Study. St Lucia:
Descriptor
(Period
Timespan)
Identity
Containment
Establishment
Experimentation
Expansion
Consolidation
Connection
Rationalization
Reorientation
(ORIENTATION
(CONVICT
(SETTLEMENT
(SEPARATION
(BOOM
(FEDERATION
(INTERWAR
(POSTWAR
(MODERN
pre1820s)
1820s-30s)
1840s-50s)
1860s-70s)
1880s)
1890s-1910s)
1920s-30s)
1940s-60s)
1970s-90s)
history, in particular. Also of interest here
was the recognition of 'marginal groups'
within a history – so many previous efforts
being focussed on the rich winners, the men
and the white fellas.
The fourth example, again concerned with
Queensland history, was prepared for the
leading heritage authority for the State
Government of Queensland, now called the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).9
In this report, Blake identified nine major
themes, which may have been derivative of
the AHC (1994) themes, but show a marked
understanding of the Queensland situation in
their differences. Blake's major themes
were:
1. Peopling the Land
2. Exploiting and Utilising the Land
3. Developing Secondary and Tertiary
Industries
4. Moving Goods, People and Information
5. Building Settlements and Dwellings
6. Maintaining Order
7. Creating Social and Cultural Institutions
8. Educating Queenslanders
9. Providing Health and Welfare Services
Further sub-themes, as relevant, were used
within each of these thematic sections.
Overall, the emphasis on land is bought to
the foreground, while sublimating any
perceptual and environmental influences.
Within each of these timespans, several
thematic subheadings were used also to
structure the text, and these typically
included: Networks; Stations; Surveys;
Communities; Animals; Farms; Timbers;
Industries; Peoples; and, Impacts. In this
thematic list, the emphasis on land use and
the lack of attention to climatic or perceptual
factors is quite evident. However, the
procedure of establishing a colony (with its
inherent
phases
of
experimentation,
innovation, expansion and consolidation)
was recognised in the 'descriptor' names as a
significant observation in related research on
designed landscapes.7
The third example of themes was taken from
a history of Queensland, by Marxist theorist
Bill Thorpe.8 The titles of his chapters reveal
a mixed thematic and chronological
approach:
1. 'Postcolonialism', Australian S/studies,
and the 'social-material'
2. Contact History, Colonised Labour, and
the Making of Colonial Society
3. Ecohistory and Political Economy, 18241900
4. Social Structure, Social Conditions, and
Social Relations
5. Conclusion and Afterword
This arrangement also introduces other
theoretical frameworks – from post/colonial
studies, cultural studies and environmental
Dr. Thom Blake also prepared a list of
themes for the Contested Terrains project in
1998, which is the fifth example discussed
here. These themes were under the title "The
Making/Evolution of Cultural Landscapes in
Queensland":
Strategic/defensive;
Transport and communication;
Networks and Corridors;
Pastoralism;
Agriculture;
Mining;
Controlling and Managing Water; and,
Urbanisation.
The focus on cultural landscapes can be
clearly seen, although the interpretation and
Applied History Centre, Department of History, The
University of Queensland.
7
Chapter 6, Landscape Development Evolution Model, in
Sim, JCR (1999) "Designed Landscapes in Queensland,
1859-1939: experimentation – adaptation – innovation",
unpublished PhD thesis, Queensland University of
Technology.
8
Thorpe, Bill (1996), Colonial Queensland: Perspectives
on a frontier society, St Lucia: University of Queensland
Press.
9
viii
Blake, Thom (1996), "Queensland Cultural Heritage
Context Study," A Report for the Cultural Heritage
Branch, Department of Environment.
environmental influences remain unstated.
The concern for water and how it has
affected Queensland history was considered
an important insight for the current study.
STRUCTURE OF REPORT 2:
Thematic Study of the Cultural
Landscape of Queensland
Coming to terms with climate as a whole,
was the eventual aspect sought. Each of
these
five
examples
of
thematic
arrangements
for
historical
studies
contributed to the final structure of this
study of Queensland landscapes. These
results are described below.
Part 1: LANDSCAPE HISTORIES
CLIMATE: living in the tropics10
LAND: land as the focus of Qld history11
DEVELOPMENT: the prime agent of change12
MARGINAL GROUPS: the unofficial history13
Part 2: LANDSCAPE AWARENESS
PERCEPTION: perceiving is more than seeing14
PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE: the Australian
context15
INTERPRETING LANDSCAPE AS TEXT:
Phenomenological Hermeneutics
Shaping a Structure
Ideas for arranging the structure of the
thematic study were gathered from the
traditional historical sources cited above,
from other sorts of histories (environmental
and geographical), and new research from
several areas. The emphasis was to be on
certain aspects or themes in Queensland
history that were continually being applied
or else those typically ignored in traditional
histories. The land and development were
two of the strongest recurring themes
(directly or indirectly employed). As
discussed before, scant attention has been
paid to the minorities or the 'unpowerful'
(marginal groups) until very recent times.
Similarly, environmental history is a
relatively recent phenomenon and rarely
linked to socio-economic histories. The final
component was recognising the need to
include themes related to the people and
landscape nexus – including notions about
perception, meaning and beliefs. Combining
all these themes provided a rich mixture that
widens horizons and the number and variety
of possible interpretations.
Writing up the Ideas
The authors of the separate essays or
chapters that comprise the thematic study
are noted individually as they occur in the
The two major streams contained in this
thematic study of Queensland cultural
landscapes are HISTORIES (using four key
themes) and AWARENESS (using three key
themes). The principle sources behind these
essays are described briefly in their relevant
footnote. The resultant structure of this
collection of essays is described below.
ix
10
As in Cilento, Raphael and Clem Lack (1959), Triumph
in the Tropics: An Historical Sketch of Queensland.
Brisbane: Smith and Paterson.
11
As in Johnston, W. Ross (1982), The Call of the Land: A
History of Queensland to the Present Day. Milton:
Jacaranda Press.
12
As in Fitzgerald, Ross (1982), A History of Queensland
from Dreaming to 1915, Vol. 1. St Lucia, Brisbane:
UQP; and, Fitzgerald, Ross (1984), A History of
Queensland 1915 to the 1980s. St Lucia, Brisbane: UQP.
13
Several recent authors have begun to redress the
historical imbalance of viewpoints: e.g. Reynolds, Henry
(1996) Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers and Land, first ed.
1987, St Leonards: Allen & Unwin; Reynolds, Henry
(1998), This Whispering in Our Hearts, St Leonards:
Allen & Unwin; and, Thorpe, Bill (1996), Colonial
Queensland: Perspectives on a frontier society. St Lucia:
UQ Press.
14
Numerous references were found for this theme, and
included sources from these fields: environmental
psychology; historiography; landscape / architectural
theory; aesthetics; philosophy; cultural geography; art
history/theory; heritage/conservation theory; place
theory; and, environmental history.
15
The major sources examined included: Powell, J. (1978),
Mirrors of the New World: images and image-makers in
the settlement process. Studies in Historical Geography.
Canberra: ANU Press; Blainey, Geoffrey (1974), The
Tyranny of Distance. South Melbourne: Sun Books, first
published 1966; Smith, Bernard (1989), European Vision
of the South Pacific, 2nd ed. Melbourne: Oxford
University Press; and, Seddon, George and Mari Davis,
eds. (1976), Man and Landscape in Australia: towards an
ecological vision. Papers from a symposium held at the
Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 30 May-2
June 1974. Australian UNESCO Committee for Man and
the Biosphere, 2. Canberra: AGPS.
• "Cultural Landscape Interpretation
through the Arts" by Professor Helen
Armstrong and Kim Watson
• "Attitudes to Nature – visions of the
landscape" by Dr. Jeannie Sim
• "Being a Queenslander – being
different?" by Dr. Jeannie Sim
publication, but as a group they are
presented here.
The first three chapters are authored
individually thus:
1 CLIMATE – living in the tropics by Dr.
Jeannie Sim,
2 LAND – land as the focus of Queensland
history by Dr. Brian Hudson
3 DEVELOPMENT – the prime agent of
change by Dr. Danny O'Hare
The final chapter, INTERPRETING
LANDSCAPE
AS
TEXT
–
Phenomenological
Hermeneutics
was
written by Professor Helen Armstrong. This
essay can be read first as a robust and
concise grounding in this area of theory if
desired by readers.
The next group of four essays occur under
chapter 4, MARGINAL GROUPS – the
unofficial history. Their separate titles
denote the range of groups investigated:
• "Overview of Marginal Groups in
Queensland" by Professor Helen
Armstrong
• "Migration to Queensland: Politics of
Race and Class" by Professor Helen
Armstrong
• "Brief History of South Sea Islanders in
Queensland" by Dr. Walter Baker.
• "Cultural Landscapes of the Australian
South Sea Islanders: an indicative list of
place types in the historic environment"
by Lincoln T. Hayes
Six essays were prepared for chapter 5,
PERCEPTION – perceiving is more than
seeing and all but one were authored by Dr.
Jeannie Sim.
• "Perception and Environmental
Psychology"
• "Determining Landscape Character"
• The Physical Landscapes of Queensland
by Dr. Brian Hudson
• "Landscape Design Theory"
• "Traditional Visual Analysis"
• "Landscape Meaning"
Together, these different thematic essays are
believed to express something of the
distinctiveness
of
Queensland
and
Queensland history, but are contained within
a context of Australian and global cultural
landscape theory. The wide variety of topics
investigated within each theme can be noted
from this listing. The bringing together of
such material in this accessible manner
proved most helpful during the course of the
Contested Terrains project. It was also
recognised as being useful to a wider
audience, hence this separate publication.
Six essays were produced for chapter 6,
PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE – the
Australian context:
• "Perceptions of Australia as a New
World" by Professor Helen Armstrong
• "Distance and Isolation" by Dr. Jeannie
Sim
• "Antipodean and European Visions" by
Dr. Jeannie Sim
x
Section 1
LANDSCAPE HISTORIES
The writing a history is essentially concerned with writing about truth – what events happened,
when, where, what and who was involved – except such a simplistic approach has been found to
be fraught with dangers. A review of traditional histories of Queensland reveal several missing
components and viewpoints. To redress that situation, the following essays examine typically
forgotten or the typically obvious in new ways. The four chapters in this first section deal with
these important themes: climate, land, development and some of the marginal groups.
1
c
1
CLIMATE
living in the tropics
by Jeannie Sim
There are several topics addressed in this essay.16 The first three topics describe the background
about climate effecting people and the conditions experienced in Queensland (People and their
Environment, Getting to Know the Queensland Climate, White People can Live in the Tropics).
The other topics support the concept of experimenting with the new possibilities for lifestyle
and needs to accommodate the 'new' climate of Queensland by the early settlers (Shade and
Sunshine in Tropical Queensland, Climate and Cultivation, Climate, Lifestyle and Shelter,
Verandahs, Shady Urban Open Space). While based on considerable original research of the
Queensland situation, this theme would benefit from further primary research. However, Figure
1 provides an introduction to the fundamental climatic understanding of the truly tropical
regions of Queensland.
FIGURE 1 : Features of Tropical Australia
(Griffith Taylor 1955, pg. 442).
16
Much of this section is derived from: Sim, Jeannie (1999), "Designed Landscapes in Queensland, 1859-1939: experimentation –
adaptation – innovation", unpublished PhD thesis, QUT, Brisbane.
2
indicated in the natural environment. He
is like a traffic-controller in a large city,
who alters the rate but not the direction of
progress; and perhaps the phrase 'Stopand-Go
Determinism'
expresses
succinctly the writer's geographic
philosophy.19
People and their Environment
To begin the description of the major
historio-geographical theme of climate, a
review of some of the theories concerned
with the relationship and influence between
human beings and environment is presented.
One of the most important ideas is
environmental determinism, however, this
essay does not advocate nor test the
legitimacy of this geographical theory.
Environmental determinism is the "doctrine
that human activities are controlled by the
environment."17 It is mentioned because
some of these ideas were raised in the
Queensland and Australian literature
researched. Some basic description of their
theoretical framework is required for
introductory and contextual purposes. The
veracity or extent of environmental
influences on human beings is not the issue
here. Current reference texts on human
geography
describe
a
variety
of
interpretations concerning environmental
determinism that have been traced back in
time to classical antiquity and the ideas
expressed by Hippocrates and Aristotle.
Such notions continued through the
Renaissance and into the Enlightenment of
the 18th century.18 The human story and
nature's influences was given further
encouragement with Darwin's theory of
evolution in the mid 19th century, and most
relevant to this study, were the resultant
ideas, expressed by advocates Ellen C.
Semple in USA and Griffith Taylor who
began as a geographer in Australia. Taylor
believed:
Of particular relevance here, are the
descriptions of settlement possibilities (and
probabilities) that Griffith Taylor prepared
for Australia. Figure 2 shows Taylor's
conjectural 'crescent of settlement' around
the south-east coastal areas of Queensland,
NSW, Victoria and South Australia, with
separate patches in Tasmania and Western
Australia. This diagram reveals something
of the influence of tropical climate upon
settlement and cultivation areas. The
accuracy of these settlement predictions are
in evidence today.
It is important to recognise that theories and
concepts about the interrelationship of
environment, human settlement, and the
development and management of land are at
the interface of several disciplines, notably
geography, history, and anthropology, and at
the heart of cultural landscape studies. Other
considerations of the environment and
human activities were found in the tropical
regional literature that directly related to the
Queensland situation. Victor Savage found
two main outlooks regarding the tropical
climate in his study of Southeast Asia: "One
school of thought defined tropical climate,
especially the suffocating and enervating
tropical heat, in malignant terms. Another
body of thought pictured man in a soft,
benign tropical climate devoid of the rigours
of extreme hot and cold."20 These early
European views are both negative and are
among the ideas that became the formalised
theory of environmental determinism.
Savage cited Ellsworth Huntingdon, Ellen
Churchill Semple and Griffith Taylor as
geographers
who
"popularized
the
relationship
between
climate
and
civilization."21
… the best economic programme for a
country to follow has in large part been
decided by Nature, and it is the
geographer's duty to interpret this
programme. Man is able to accelerate,
slow or stop the progress of a country's
development. But he should not, if he is
wise, depart from the directions as
17
18
Livingstone, David (1994), "Environmental
Determinism," In Johnston, R.J., et al, The Dictionary of
Human Geography, 3rd edition. Oxford: Blackwell. pp.
162-164
Glacken, C.J. (1967), Traces on the Rhodian shore:
nature and culture in western thought from ancient times
to the end of the eighteenth century. Berkeley, CA: Uni.
of California Press. This work is cited for its thorough
coverage of environmental determinism through history
in Livingstone's Dictionary of Human Geography entry
noted above.
3
19
Taylor, Griffith (1955), Australia: a study of warm
environments and their effect on British settlement. 6th
edition (1950) reprint with corrections. London: Methuen
/ New York: E.P. Dutton. pg. 479
20
Savage, Victor R. (1984), Western Impressions of Nature
and Landscape in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Singapore
University Press. pg. 170
21
Savage, V.R. (1984), pg. 183 & endnotes pg. 401
FIGURE 2 : Predicted 'Crescent of Settlement' in Australia c.1917
(Griffith Taylor 1955, Frontispiece)
4
Savage pointed out that the issue for these
early writers was essentially, "could the
White Man live in the tropics? There was
indeed much debate by laymen and
academics, especially geographers, over this
question in the late nineteenth century and
[the] first forty years of this century."22
Savage reviewed numerous contemporary
writers and their discussion about the tropics
and after all his investigations he concluded:
It is for others to comment on the scientific
veracity of climatic descriptions. The
relevant issue here is the relationship
between
cases
of
'facts'
being
misrepresented and any confusions or errors
in responses evidenced by settlement,
development and the cultural landscape.
Occasionally, these results were uncovered
in the research and are presented in the
following review of the topic of climate as
found in the early garden and Queensland
literature. Meteorologists may consider that
they understand the climates of Australia,
but research reveals that climate is (and was)
a source of misunderstanding for ordinary
farmers and gardeners.
What had not been proven, however, and
still loomed in the Western consciousness
was the extent of the albeit subtle
influence of tropical climate on the human
mentality, behaviour and physical
constitution. The enervating effect of the
tropical climate on physical and mental
processes was certainly difficult to prove,
but the experience was widespread.23
Climate had been used as a tool for
encouraging colonisation from the early
days. Archibald Meston's promotional
writings of Queensland, encouraged
settlement
as
much
as
recording
geographical history. In the late 1890s he
wrote of the local climate in glowing terms,
quoting an early source of great influence:
This is a key matter for both historians and
scientists investigating climate. The amount
of comment in the early literature about the
effects of heat, humidity and other factors,
indicates an area worth further investigation.
Getting to Know the Queensland
Climate
Dr Lang, in his "Queensland" of 1860
wrote – "there is the utmost difference
imaginable between the rigours of a
Canadian winter of six or seven months'
duration and the Paradisiacal climate of
Queensland, in which the productions of
both the temperate and torrid zones grow
harmoniously together, and the process of
vegetation goes on uninterruptedly during
the whole year."24
Attitudes to climate are bound up with
scientific knowledge and actual experience,
as well as culturally-based perceptions and
misconceptions. To properly understand all
these issues, a history of climatology in
Australia is needed, one related to the
historical development of the field of
geography (both physical and cultural
aspects). There appears to be no study in
which an overall understanding of this
climate-horticulture relationship, especially
for the Australian context. While important
in understanding and interpreting the
cultural landscape, this study has not been
undertaken here. However, some aspects of
climate and how it affected agriculture,
horticulture and lifestyle were examined.
Searching for clear descriptions by local
residents and scientists about Queensland
climates through time, revealed a widely
divergent awareness of its characteristics
and limitations for agri-horticultural
purposes. The hearsay and unsubstantiated
ideas expressed in the local literature, were
sometimes presented as facts, not opinions.
However, the history of seeking an
understanding of local climates in
Queensland has been full of errors. One
example is this extract by a local agricultural
writer, Angus Mackay, in his 1875
publication. While deriding such errors in
others, he perpetuated a few of his own in
his advice about seasons and climate:
Australia, to those who know little or
nothing of the country, is a land of
perpetual summer – subject to terrific
floods and excessive droughts ; the latter,
as a whole, prevailing. This belief is not
confined to persons in other countries,
whose knowledge of Australia has been
acquired from books, of the class which
24
22
Savage, V.R. (1984), pg. 183
23
Savage, V.R. (1984), pg. 185
5
Meston, Archibald (1895), Geographic History of
Queensland. Brisbane: Government Printer pg. 71. Dr.
Lang encouraged many new settlers from Britain to
come to Australia in the mid-19th century.
Thematic Study of Queensland:
LANDSCAPE HISTORIES 2: Land
state that flowers have no odors [sic] in
Australia, and birds do not sing here.
Colonists, old colonists amongst them,
have different opinions of the country and
the climate that differ but slightly from
the foregoing … Take Melbourne,
Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, the whole
year round, and the climate is wonderfully
alike [sic]; nor does it change in anything
like the degree the situation of these
places would warrant us in believing. As
we travel northwards to Maryborough,
Rockhampton,
Mackay,
Bowen,
Townsville, Cardwell, the change is just a
little more decided. There is a little more
winter in the southern sections ; a little
more summer in the northern …25
beyond the experience of many, if not all
newcomers. 'Semi-tropical' was a term that
arose in many references from the 19th
century and early 20th century, and equates
to the modern term of 'subtropical.'
The reversal of seasons in the southern
hemisphere was stressed for newcomers
reading the gardening guides in Pugh's
Almanac. Between 1865 and 1884, Walter
Hill made numerous contributions to this
semi-annual publication with his 'Gardening
Calendar.' His gardening advice (which
included some agricultural topics) was
arranged under the twelve months of the
year, each with this sort of heading
reminder:
"January
in
Queensland
corresponds to July in Great Britain" or
"June in Queensland corresponds to
December in Great Britain."27 These same
caveats were incorporated into all the issues
of Pugh's Almanac, at least up to 1884.
Stating that Brisbane, Melbourne, etc. have
similar climates is most startling. Perhaps
the small distinctions between the
Queensland towns that Mackay described
can be partially understood, although the
implications of a little more summer or
winter is quite relevant to the constraints and
opportunities of gardening and agriculture.
These allegations of similar climate were,
perhaps, based on the factor of temperature,
as no distinction between varying amounts
or the season of rainfall or humidity are
considered. However, some recognition of
the climatic difference inland is noted by
Mackay,
Several early gardening writers make note of
climate variability across Queensland and
began to classify the whole area into
regions. Some were more correct than others
in their observations and advice. Mr. Hill's
final contribution to Pugh's Almanac in 1884
("assisted by Mr. James Pink and J.G. Cribb,
Esq."), included recommended plants
arranged according to three climatic
divisions: "cooler climates", "middle and
southern districts, as far north as Bowen"
and the "northern portion of Queensland."28
The western and northern inland areas were
not really represented in this advice.
Confusingly, the accompanying gardening
calendar made no reference to these climatic
differences in describing horticultural
requirements or limitations. The calendar
was written for a generalised climate that
best represents Brisbane. Around the same
point in time, Hockings alluded to climatic
variations
over
Queensland
thus:
concentrating on the coastlands south of
Rockhampton, while the colder districts and
more tropical districts "will adopt such
modifications as comparative lateness or
But leaving the coast, and travelling
inland, the common opinion that perpetual
summer prevails is soon dissipated; and
very often in a manner far from
agreeable… inland… the winter season is
very decided. Frosts prevail in these
inland districts all over the country; even
to the centre of Australia. In Queensland,
the climate inland more than 100 miles
from the sea can be considered semitropical, in so far as the summer months
are concerned. The cold of winter is very
decided, and summer vegetation dies
beyond doubt.26
The seasonal variation of very hot summers
and freezing winters are accurately
described by Mackay. These climatic factors
combined with frequent droughts in these
regions presented cultivation problems
25
26
Mackay, Angus (1875), The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist
and Colonists’ Guide. Brisbane: Slater & Co. pg. 5
Mackay, Angus (1875), pg. 5
6
27
Pugh's Almanac, 1867, pp. 28 & 33
28
Pugh's Almanac, 1884, pp. 33-35
earliness of seasons, difference in
temperature, variations in extent of local
rainfall, etc., may prove necessary."29 No
mention is really made of western inland
areas apart from those in the south-east.
Arguably, newcomers were not aided greatly
by this sort of generalisation about climate,
particularly when the subtleties of difference
were not explained.
classification either. They are generic and
would have little value in helping gardeners
or farmers understand their immediate,
regional environment. However, this was the
'accepted' view of Australia for the first half
of the 20th century. These classifications
seem oversimplified and related less to
climatic/topographical factors than the
occasional convenient settlement or place
name, especially when compared to the
elaborate biogeographical regions devised in
the 1980s.30
One authoritative (if generalised) set of
sources describing the Australian climate or
climates was Griffith Taylor's published
works between the 1910s and the 1950s.
Taylor divided Australia into 'natural
regions', (Figure 3) which were a
combination of topographical boundaries
and climatic types.
Taylor detailed descriptions of tropical
Australia are more reliable. He provided
views on environmental conditions affecting
settlement in tropical Australia, which he
said covered parts of Queensland, the
Northern Territory and Western Australia
"and constitutes 38.6 percent of the area of
the Commonwealth."31 As early as 1917,
Taylor had described the features of the area
north of the Tropic of Capricorn and he
repeated these illustrations in numerous
subsequent publications. These maps are
included together here as Figure 1, Features
of Tropical Australia.
White People can live in the
Tropics
Griffith Taylor, with his scientific
geographical framework behind him,
believed that it was the climatic comfort
factor and economic factors that had kept
(Anglo-Celtic) people out of northern
Australia. However, there was a perception
by many educated and less educated people
that tropical climates were dangerous and
unsuitable for 'white men'. This was a
recurring theme in the early 20th century
Australia, and elsewhere in the world.
FIGURE 3 : Natural Regions of Australia
(Taylor 1955, pg. 44)
Queensland is mostly represented by four of
these regions: "(6) Brisbane," "(7)
Townsville," "(9) Artesia," and "17.
Cloncurry". 'Artesia' is the name Taylor used
to describe the eastern inland areas of
Australia which are mostly in Queensland.
The mixture of both highlands and lowlands,
inlands and coastal areas, and their related
climates, are not well described in this
29
The Aboriginal habitation of the country for
thousands of years previous to this century
was not mentioned by Taylor as part of his
Hockings, Albert John (1888), Queensland Garden
Manual: containing concise directions for the cultivation
of the Garden, Orchard, and Farm in Queensland. To
which have been added sericulture (Silkworm), and the
cultivation of Sugar, Coffee, Tea, and numerous other
Tropical Plants and Fruit Trees especially adapted to the
Climate and soil of Queensland. Third Edition. Brisbane:
Printed for the Author by Muir & Morcom. pg. 200
7
30
Refer Fig. 5.13.1 Terrestrial biogeographic regions and
national parks, In Wadley, David and W. Bill King
(1993), Reef, Range and Red Dust: The Adventure Atlas
of Queensland. Brisbane: Dept of Lands, Queensland
Government, pg. 94.
31
Taylor, Griffith (1955), Australia. 6th edition. London:
Methuen / NY: E.P. Dutton. pg. 440
observations about human habitation in
tropical lands. Indeed, as the Australian
national census did not include Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people in their
statistics until after the historic referendum
of 1967, Taylor uses population records with
an inbuilt inaccuracy, which he openly cited
as "excluding aborigines."32 Taylor's
conclusion about settlement in the tropics
includes this statement:
referred to also in a leading modern
architectural text about designing buildings
in tropical Australia, where Cilento's
description of climate was included:
The average Australian living in the
southern fringe of the continent has
frequently only the vaguest and most
erroneous conception of this great portion
of his natural heritage. To the great
majority the word 'tropical' conjures up
visions of sweltering mangrove flats, the
haunts of the crocodile; of rank and
steaming forests that exhale the musky
odour of decaying vegetation and conceal
within their leafy depths 'miasmic'
swamps; of deadly snakes and of the
sulking [or skulking?] savage with his
poisoned spear. In short the common idea
of the tropics is a mixed impression
drawn from the romantic accounts of oldtime voyages (and) occasional newspaper
headlines. To offset the romantic, there is
the emphasis of unknown dangers and the
fostered belief that the climate is one to
induce constantly a maximum of heat and
discomfort.35
The writer believes that the white man
can settle in any part of the world
provided that sufficient precautions are
made to counteract the natural disabilities,
and provided that the advantages
(economic and otherwise) are enough to
attract him to the place.33
To support his views, Taylor reviewed the
contemporary and recent historical writings
by medical researchers, such as the
influential Queensland medical practitioner
(and amateur historian and conservationist),
Sir Raphael Cilento. The basic opinion of
both men is contained in Taylor's statement
above: it is possible for 'white men' (and by
extension, 'white women') to live in the
tropics. Taylor mentioned more of Cilento's
ideas on practical matters, such as
inappropriate tight-fitting clothes and added,
Thanks to the efforts of people such as
Cilento and Taylor, to dispel such
misconceptions, Queensland is now well
populated by a wide variety of human types
with flourishing communities, farms and
gardens. The tourist industry now proudly
flaunts the climate of Queensland – from
cool mountain rainforests to sunny beaches
to adventuring in the red heart (outback):
"Beautiful one day, perfect the next".
However, this is not really a recent
phenomenon. Visiting and getting to know
the natural and cultural landscapes of the
State has been a quest, with varying degrees
of popularity, since colonial settlers started
appearing in the 1840s. When transport
facilities allowed it, and sufficient leisure
time and economic stability encouraged it,
locals and visitors began touring Queensland
in search of the scenic sights and
recreational opportunities. The climate and
the landscape were the elements that
combined to make such trips desirable and
possible.
Dr. Cilento's manual includes valuable
data as to the special types of watersupply, houses, sewerage disposal,
clothing, diet and exercise. He is strongly
of the opinion that the working hours
should be changed. Business should
occupy the hours from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
and from that hour the worker should be
absolutely free.34
The items mentioned here have implications
for landscape design as well – because all
are involved with the process of living in the
tropics and sub-tropics. Working out-ofdoors (such as farming or gardening) is an
issue here. Cilento's 1925 booklet was
32
33
34
Methuen / NY: E.P. Dutton. pg. 449; Taylor is referring
to Cilento, Raphael (1925), The White Man in the
Tropics : with especial reference to Australia and its
dependencies. Melbourne: Division of Tropical Hygiene
of the Commonwealth Department of Health
35
8
Cilento, R. W. (1925), The White Man in the Tropics.
pp. 7-8 and 168; cited in Saini, Balwant Singh (1970),
Architecture in Tropical Australia. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press, pg. 13
Shade and Sunshine in Tropical
Queensland
cobalt blue cloudless sky: a matter of clear
light and warmth, not uncomfortable heat
and haze. The traditional timing of Viceregal garden parties in Queensland (during
autumn and winter) and the Brisbane
Exhibition (or Ekka) in August is a
reflection of seasonal character as observed
since early colonial settlement. Similarly,
the agricultural shows all over Queensland
(and the Northern Territory) are timed to
coincide with the cooler weather. They are
not 'summer festivals' or even 'harvest
festivals' as occur in temperate climes. The
timing of these events demonstrate an
acquired knowledge of climate and the
possible and comfortable lifestyle activities.
One recurring theme among these responses
to climate is the need for shade in hot
climates, be they dry or wet. Some relief
from high temperatures can be felt in the
shade, but often the best effects are when
shade and cooling breezes are combined.
When temperatures reach the late 30s and
into the 40s degrees Celsius, shade can mean
the difference between life and death for
human beings. Issues of comfort become
issues of survival. Heatstroke is a real
problem in warm climates: it can be fatal.36
Shade is thus a vital need in hot climates
rather than a mere whim of passing fashion
or aesthetic fancy. The quality of shade is
also of concern: dappled shade (especially
from Eucalypts) is better than nothing;
intensely solid shade (from densely foliaged
fig trees) can be very dark and cool.
However, such intense shade in subtropical
winters can be too cool. Deciduous trees can
offer a solution here: providing shade in
summer and warming sun in winter, but the
range of warm climate tolerant deciduous
trees is limited.37
As with the changes in the timing of the
seasons in the southern hemisphere, there is
a reversal of the orientation for the
daylighting of buildings. In Europe, northlight means daylight without glaring sun and
in Australia, this is reversed to become
south-light. Capturing warm winter sun into
the house (or on modern-day solar panels) in
Queensland, entails using direct sunlight
from the north. Generally, penetration of
living and working spaces by direct sunlight
is avoided in the Tropics at any time of the
year.
The quality and extent of sunlight in the
tropics of Australia adds to the experience of
the cultural landscape. Strong, glaring and
burning sunlight is a typical component of
summertime in the tropics. However, a
welcome delight in winter in southern
Queensland is the warming sun set in a
36
Probable occurrence of Heat Stroke is estimated at about
50°C (dry bulb temperature) when there is 30% relative
humidity down to 42°C DBT at 65% RH and only 38°C
DBT at 80% RH. Comparatively the "comfort zone" is
estimated to range from 21-30°C DBT at 30% RH
through to 21-26°C DBT at 65% RH. [Source: Figure 29,
"Bioclimatic chart", In Koenigsberger, O.H. et al (1974),
Manual of tropical housing and building, Part one:
Climatic design, London: Longman, pg. 51.] Recent
local research on climate and human shelter can be found
in the following: Szokolay, S. V. (1990), Climatic
Design of Houses in Queensland: Final report on
research project. St Lucia: UQ Architectural Science
Unit.
37
Some tropical trees are deciduous due to the absence of
water rather than lower temperatures. However, in
northern Australia, the wet season and the hot season
coincide, with the dry season and cooler temperatures
corresponding. Thus, whatever catalyst to leaf-drop is in
operation, such trees defoliate around the middle of the
calendar year.
Comparatively, most traditional food plants
grown in kitchen gardens and orchards
require as much sunlight as possible. To
achieve this, north or northeast orientations
were chosen to 'trap' the sun in Queensland
and Australia. There is a real difference in
cultivation
opportunities
(and
thus
productive success) between a shady southfacing hill and a sunny north-face. Many of
the remaining pockets of rainforest and even
the drier bushland forests in southeast
Queensland occur where agriculture was too
difficult: the dark and narrow, south-facing
gullies. Similarly, residential developments
in cities and towns favoured the sunnier
sides of hills first with the less valuable
subdivided last (they were shadier and also
less ventilated by cooling breezes).
A related factor to the strong quality of
sunshine in the tropics, is the perception of
9
colour. The 'colour' white, either in flowers
or on painted timber or brickwork, can be
glaringly bright when in full sunlight in the
tropics. The subtlety of pastel colours can be
blanched by the same intensity of natural
light. The absence of twilight in the tropics
is also relevant: sundown is a matter of no
sunlight not half-light; it is dark. The
luminescence of white or pale colours in
half-light is rarely experienced in these
climates, except for a very short time at
sunset.
as the burgeoning variety of agricultural
industries.
The more typical newcomer or settler (men,
women and children), also experimented
according to their limitations, taking advice
from the detailed offerings in the 'Man on
the Land' agricultural and gardening
columns of local newspapers, by visiting
their local public park or botanic garden, or
by learning from their neighbours. The
proliferation of agricultural advice far
outweighed the meagre horticultural
sources; many regional newspapers carried
nothing but local agricultural news (e.g.
saturated with sugar in Mackay). Only some
of these ordinary people's experiences have
been recorded and located so far. Letters to
the newspaper revealed some of their
exploits and queries. From a discussion tour
arranged by the newly formed Department
of Agriculture came two female voices,
discussing their experiences growing fruit
and flowers in Bundaberg.38 Much of the
relevant information comes from the
knowledgeable (male) group: those who
published
their
experiences
and
observations, and have left documentary
evidence that can be read today. Cases such
as Mrs. Maunsell and Miss Young from
Bundaberg were very rare. Although, one
comprehensive and pragmatic female voice
of great influence was uncovered: Mrs
Lance Rawson. Mina Rawson (c.1853-1933)
wrote Australian Enquiry Book of
Household and General Information (1894)
based on many years experience in the
1870s and 1880s as a pioneering farmer's
wife near Mackay, Maryborough and finally
at Rockhampton.39 The contents of this book
reflect the variety of skills a pioneer required
to survive; at 'Boonooroo' on the coast near
Climate and Cultivation
There is an integral relationship between
climate, plants and cultivation procedures,
which in turn affect landscape design and
the cultural landscape. The people who
settled in Queensland in the 19th century can
be divided into two groups: those who knew
about horticulture (including those properly
trained as professional horticulturists or
gardeners), and those who did not have
much or any experience of horticulture prior
to arriving in the colony. Both groups faced
problems of acclimatisation: both had to
learn to make their gardens work in a
strange climate. Those with some scientific
training, like the professionals from the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew or the RBG,
Edinburgh or from major commercial
nurseries in Britain, were the most likely to
succeed in Queensland, and more likely to
enjoy the discovery and experimentation
processes involved. They were able to
interpolate and make corrections, using logic
and sound experience. They knew where to
look to find advice and they knew how to
keep up-to-date with the latest research
findings (reference books, magazines, and
personal correspondence, etc.). These people
(mostly men), were the directors/curators of
botanic gardens, head gardeners and
commercial nursery proprietors who
serviced the developing Colony of
Queensland.
Talented
and
educated
amateurs, like medical practitioners and elite
private garden owners who subscribed to the
Queensland Acclimatisation Society could
also be included in this group. Together,
these men (and the occasional woman)
influenced both horticultural pursuits as well
10
38
Young, Miss E.M. (1891) "Flowers, a Report from the
Agricultural Conference at Bundaberg," Qld Dept of
Agriculture, Bulletin (10), pp. 97-100 ; and, Maunsell,
Mrs. J. (1891) "Fruit and Fruit Growing, a Report from
the Agricultural Conference at Bundaberg," Qld Dept of
Agriculture, Bulletin (10), pp. 100-4.
39
Rawson, Mrs. Lance (1984), Australian Enquiry Book of
Household and General Information: a practical guide for
the cottage, villa, and bush home, (first published 1894,
Pater & Knapton), facsimile ed. Kenthurst, NSW:
Kangaroo Press.
with the exception of the Stanthorpe
district, are altogether different to that of
the colder parts of the southern colonies,
and that therefore we cannot grow the
same fruits here in our tropical and semitropical districts that are grown
successfully in the south.41
Maryborough, rations were bought by boat,
necessitating self-sufficiency:
Mrs. Rawson smoked and cured fish, kept
cows and poultry, grew vegetables, made
everything from curtains to candles,
experimented with ways of using native
foods (almost poisoning her family with
roast ibis and serving iguana stew to
unsuspecting guests), raising four young
children – "and between whiles cooked,
baked, boiled and fried for the
household".40
Extensive advice about what can and cannot
be grown in Queensland was provided in the
Queensland Agricultural Journal. The
primary focus for this organ of the
Department of Agriculture, was naturally
agriculture. However, ornamental gardening
was discussed in the QAJ and this was also
reported in the major newspapers.
In her guidebook, advice about cookery and
interior decoration are as frequent as
'scientific' agricultural advice. Her gardening
advice is both practical and for ornamental
purposes.
Rawson's
inclination
for
experimenting and thus devising new
solutions to problems in the household and
the garden is marked. The influence of this
work extended beyond Queensland with its
Australia-wide publication. It was preceded
by several other books on poultry, cookery,
(or both), and household hints. While her
gardening advice was not extensive, her
recommendations for experimentation and
adaptation set important standards for
newcomers to Queensland, especially in
encouraging women to be clever.
The development of a special kind of
gardening (for the shade) also provides
another example of climatic understanding
or misunderstanding. This concerns the real
capabilities of plants advocated for growing
in shade gardens. MacMahon has some
decided opinions in the matter when he
describes a bush-house in the Brisbane
Botanic Gardens:
The first thing which will probably strike
about this shade-garden is that it seems to
be hardly shaded at all, and that the plants
seem in some unaccountable way to by
condoning for this neglect by thriving in a
most remarkable manner. The fact is that
nearly all the shade-gardens [bushhouses] one meets with are rendered
useless by being shaded to a wholly
unnatural degree. Sunlight is the life of
plants. … Do not therefore be alarmed if
some of your plants curl up a little, unless
you have reared them in an artificial
manner to begin with. It is only when the
curling and wilting goes too far that
serious results are to be feared. You may
often see during the heat of the day the
Marantas and plants of that type in this
shade-garden
presenting
a
wilted
appearance, but directly the sun's rays are
moderated they expand once more and are
ready to absorb the cool moisture which
collects on their surfaces during the
night.42
A comprehensive description of the
multitude of gardening procedures that
Queenslanders have used in the early days is
outside the range of this study. However,
one observation on gardening and the
generally
ignorant
newcomers
to
Queensland was that they were easy targets
for
unscrupulous
merchants.
The
unfamiliarity of these new settlers with the
capabilities of their new land and climate
lead to the growing of inappropriate plants.
Bonefide professional horticultural experts
in the 1890s were openly criticising these
merchants and advising newcomers to be
wary, as Albert Bensen wrote here:
only plant those trees that your soil and
climate are adapted for. Remember that
the climatic conditions of this colony,
40
Addison, Susan and Judith McKay (19??), A Good Plain
Cook: an edible history of Queensland, South Brisbane:
Queensland Museum Publication. pp. 2-3. Further
biographical information on Rawson is provided in this
publication.
11
41
Benson, Albert H: "Orchard Notes for July", QAJ, V.3,
July 1898, pg. 87
42
MacMahon, Philip: "Our Botanic Gardens" (No. 8) QAJ,
V.3, December 1898, pg. 438-9
Having seen too many examples of shadeloving treeferns and ground ferns dried out
to yellow in full sunshine in Brisbane, it is
difficult to accept MacMahon's opinion in its
entirety. One can still have too much sun for
plants that naturally occur in the shady
understorey levels of forests, which results
in leaf burning and rapid loss of water in the
extreme heat of mid-summer. This is another
example of the process of acclimatisation of
newcomers to early Queensland.
buildings (inside and outside). Due to the
climatic variety across Queensland, there are
correspondingly many different possible and
appropriate design responses. Aspects of
observing climates and experimenting with
suitable human habitations in sub/tropical
areas include: the development of verandahs
and outdoor rooms; the creation of other
shade effects using plants; and, the
perception of sunshine, light and colour that
effected landscape design. All these aspects
relate to lifestyle and the changes made to
traditional ways to better suit the new
climatic circumstances, otherwise known as
acclimatisation. All the requirements of
living, working and recreating have to be
accommodated within the limitations and
opportunities provided by climate.
Understanding the climate applies equally to
human activities related to the growing of
plants, not the least of which is building
work. To appreciate the limitations of
summer time in the tropics and the potential
for extensive physical labours in winter, one
can read this advice from Ebenezer Cowley
of the Kamerunga State Nursery: "[June]
This is a good month to build bush-houses
in, bloodwood or bean-tree posts only being
used. [July] Paint farm outbuildings…
Falling scrub for further extension of
agricultural areas should be performed."43
The best time to undertake heavy building
works or land clearing activities is in the
cooler 'winter' months in the tropics. These
ideas are supported by gardeners who
recognise the cooler months as being the
best time for active garden work, as
MacMahon said: "Gardening in Queensland
is a pleasure during the winter months. The
tropical growth of weeds which serves to
discourage the amateur during the summer
has ceased, and given him a little breathing
time."44 Thus, by the 1890s, understanding
by colonists in Queensland of human
capabilities and gardening activities was
firming. Associated with these climatic
perceptions are attitudes to Nature and their
affect on garden design.
The nature of subtropical and tropical
climates allows (even encourages) people to
spend more productive and enjoyable time
outside. This recognition was something
newcomers to Queensland had to learn, and
it usually involved major changes to their
cultural traditions. Indigenous inhabitants of
similar climates in the Asia-Pacific region
have long known what can and can't be done
by human beings outside in these hot, wet
climates. In particular, they have made use
of the transitional spaces between outside
and inside and underneath their dwellings.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
have living and building traditions that were
based on similar long-time experiences with
climate, and their solutions suited each
nuance of climate in Australia. Within the
broad view of historian Ross Fitzgerald,
some of these traditions were described,
such as this one from the Gregory district:
"Since north-west Queensland was subject
to inundation during the Wet [season], the
native inhabitants devised a two-storeyed
gunyah to escape the rain. Fires were burned
at the entrance of these huts to discourage
mosquitos."45 There were other approaches
used by the various groups of Aboriginal
Climate, Lifestyle and Shelter
The impact of climate on people,
specifically the European newcomers to
colonial Queensland, induced a wide variety
of design responses in both landscapes and
45
43
Cowley, E: "Cultural Notes for Tropical Queensland,"
QAJ, V.2, May 1898, pg. 432 and June 1898, pg. 537.
44
V.2, May 1898, pg. 388
12
Fitzgerald, Ross (1985), A History of Queensland: The
Dreaming to 1915. St Lucia: UQ Press. pg. 15; The first
chapter of volume 1 (pp. 3-31) is devoted to describing
the culture and impacts on the environment by
indigenous Australians.
and Torres Strait Islanders, including
seasonal changes of their living places
(based on the presence or absence of
rainwater and food sources), which were in
direct harmony with climate and landscape
and the natural processes of life. These
practices were sustainable and effective and
involved the fundamental connection
between Aboriginal people and the land or
the water (both being in the 'outside' realm).
this sympathy and understanding of climate.
It can be argued that the central design
intention of the Queensland 'vernacular' of
'timber and tin' houses was to provide an
affordable and livable accommodation in a
hot climate.
The homestead of rural properties in
Queensland was typically a self-sufficient
community,
with
main
residence,
outbuildings for shearers or drovers, meathouses, barns, smithies and even schoolhouses and churches. Timber construction
and corrugated iron roofs, often low-slung
hip shapes, were typical. Very wealthy
owners, especially in the Darling Downs
district, built grand mansions of stone or
brick, such as Jimbour, East Talgai, and
Glengallan. The cultivated gardens attached
to the main house provided a refuge and
necessary food (vegetables and fruit), as
well as ornamental flowers. Often standing
on flat plains, the homestead of the inland
favoured the bunya pine (Araucaria bidwilli)
as a tall, dark green landmark, a distinction
shared in other eastern States. More
specifically a Queensland phenomenon, was
the inclusion as a feature specimen, of the
Queensland
bottletree
(Brachychiton
rupestris), a naturally occurring rainforest
species of the Downs area. The tall metal
windmill manufactured in Toowoomba,
called 'the Southern Cross', is another rural
landmark: located near homesteads and
scattered over the property to provide water
for the stock from Artesian supplies below
ground.
The relevant point here concerns the zone
between inside and outside – including
verandahs and under houses – which
involves the development of outside spaces
for various purposes that in Europe would be
typically carried out inside. The useability of
outside and semi-outside in most
Queensland climates is one the most
distinctive characteristics of our culture. The
implications on gardening practices, garden
design and the cultural landscape generally,
are numerous.
When the first European settlers came to
Queensland, they bought their buildings and
gardening traditions with them and
proceeded to try and recreate their
homelands here. The typical punctured
masonry box that is the Georgian Style of
the earliest colonial times was soon found to
be almost universally unsuccessful (except
perhaps in Tasmania). It did not take long
for architects to begin to adjust their designs
to suit the local climates. In the 1820s, the
verandahs of the barracks, hospital, and
residences of the Moreton Bay penal colony
(Brisbane-town) were not for ornamentation:
they provided weather protection for the
main walls and windows and acted as
covered passage ways. By the middle of the
19th century, skilled architects were creating
buildings that worked with the climate and
provided good ventilation, utilised shade
devices of all sorts and were orientated to
best effect. Conservatories with glass roofs
were quickly found to be unsuitable in
northern Australia, with temperatures
reaching unbearable levels – suitable for
propagating plants, but unsuitable for people
(or plants) to reside in the long term. There
were still buildings erected that did not have
Major implications for garden design and
the character of urban landscapes in
Queensland came from the use of detached
dwellings surrounded by a yard (or garden).
The terrace house is almost non-existent in
the character of Queensland urban areas, and
the origins for this situation can be traced
back to 1885 and the Undue Subdivision of
Land Act. The pattern was set, and even
after that legislation was repealed in 1923,
with the arguments for healthy ventilation
assisting perhaps, the detached house
remained the preferred model for all of
Queensland, town and city alike.
13
Verandahs
A more balanced view would acknowledge
that many tropical countries have developed
or acquired verandahs, in various forms to
ameliorate living in hot climates (wet or
dry). The use of the verandah in other
climates cannot be ignored.
The blending of outdoors (garden and
grounds) and indoors can be achieved
through the creation of the verandah, among
other things. The verandah was a well
known feature in Queensland in the 18591939 era and has become synonymous with
the so-called Queensland vernacular
architecture. The warmer parts of the world
all feature devices that bridge inside and
outside, such as courtyards and loggia,
porches and piazzas, atria and arcades found
from the Mediterranean through the Middle
East and India to Asia and beyond. In
contrast to many of these inward-looking
spaces, the verandah is something usually on
the outside edges of buildings, protecting the
inner rooms.
In a similar broadening exercise, Hudson
examined "the idea that the popularity of the
verandah and similar architectural features
can be explained in terms of [Appleton's]
prospect and refuge [theory]."48 Appleton's
theory is discussed in detail in the
Landscape Meaning section of Chapter 5
below, but essentially contends that to
humans, places are more comfortable that
are high in the qualities of prospect and
refuge.
As a place for living, the verandah was
furnished and decorated during Victorian
and Edwardian times almost as lavishly as
the house interior. Of particular relevance
here is the term 'verandah gardening' which
pertains to the ornamental use of plants in
containers (pots, hanging baskets, etc.),
arranged around the verandah, often en
masse on tiered stands of metal, cane or
wood. Supplying these displays with fresh
vegetation was the gardener's chore.
Verandah gardening activities are a
distinctive kind of tropical gardening,
worldwide.
The verandah and its associated forms is a
creation of dubious origin, according to the
literature examined. Much has been said of
the 'global' colonial community taking
successful ideas from one place to another.
Some have even maintained that the
verandah came to Australia directly from
India via the British occupation, while others
believe experience in the Caribbean colonies
also contributed to its introduction.46 The
origins of verandahs are not the issue here.
However, a recent account of the verandah
that related Australia was provided by
architectural writer Philip Drew. He
considered the inclusion of both the form
and meanings associated with this kind of
created space to be most important for a
proper understanding, as he indicates here:
A variation on the standard encircling
verandah is the internal 'breezeway' which
can be seen in early 20th century
government architect designed houses in
Queensland. For instance, the third residence
to be built (on the same site) for Curator of
the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, contains such
a breezeway configuration: called up as a
verandah, it is open at both ends (albeit
screened by lattice panel 'walls') and has the
house proper on one side and the kitchenservice areas on the other.49 An earlier
version of the internalised verandah can be
Veranda is much more than an
architectural history. The veranda is a
source of Australian identity. More than
any other people, Australians are justified
in laying claim to being the people of the
veranda.47
46
Hudson, Brian (1993) "The View form the Verandah:
Prospect, Refuge and Leisure," Australian Geographical
Studies 31 (1), pp. 70-78. pg. 71.
47
Drew, Philip (1992), Veranda: embracing place. Pymble,
NSW: Angus & Robertson. Preview (no page No.).
'Reliable' reasons for the differences in spelling (veranda
or verandah) of this term has not been revealed in the
literature. 'Verandah' is in common usage in Queensland
at the present time (1990s).
14
48
Hudson, Brian (1993) "The View form the Verandah:
Prospect, Refuge and Leisure," Australian Geographical
Studies 31 (1), pp. 70-8. pg. 71.
49
Brisbane Botanic Gardens Batch File, Q-Build Plan Rm,
"Curator's Residence 1909", Dwg No. 135E-2-1
Shady Urban Open Space
found at Nindooinbah, outside Beaudesert in
south-east Queensland, a house designed by
architect Robin Dods also around 1909.50
In tropical and semi-tropical zones,
ameliorating climate by providing shade is
not only required for the domestic situation.
Urban
areas,
with
spaces
where
communities collect in groups or travel
through, are also places that need shade.
Street awnings and verandahs are part of the
architectural contribution to this need. Street
tree planting extends this shady protection
and has been considered a climatic necessity
in hot climates, of far more importance than
the aesthetic rewards of leafy avenues.
Shady trees in public parks are also
welcomed as the effects of local climates
became (and become) more familiar to
newcomers. By the 1880s, schools became a
focus for shade creation: large shady trees in
the grounds and solid roofed shelter sheds
for children to eat, rest and play under, come
rain or shine. Similar designs for tram
shelters in Brisbane were for the comfort of
travellers, who may be effected by
sweltering sun or sudden showers en route.
By the 1890s, open areas (variations on
outdoor rooms), perhaps partially screened
by timber laths, were being created under
the typical Queensland 'stilt' houses. These
areas are similar to verandahs in being in
that transitional zone between inside and
outside. The uses of under-the-house were
(and are) many-fold, usually featuring the
laundry or wash house, but of particular
relevance here are those associated with
gardening. Fern houses or bush-houses were
created on the outer edges, often beneath
upper level verandahs. Sometimes these
areas were extended out from the line of the
house, protected by timber laths to roof and
walls. The south side of buildings offered
the greatest amount of shade and wind
protection. What is particularly important is
that these structures were rarely designed for
any other activity but tending the plants.
They were not used for outside living spaces
as were verandahs (as is the glazed
conservatory of Europe).
One of the earliest calls for shady trees
comes from a report in a local newspaper in
1866, wherein the newcomer is told to forget
about British climates: here there is vital
need to create broad avenues of trees to
protect travellers from the sun.51 Almost
twenty years later, eminent citizen, leading
member of the Queensland Acclimatisation
Society and 'amateur' botanist, Lewis
Adolphus Bernays considers shade trees so
important that he appends to his paper on
economic botany Cultural Industries for
Queensland, an essay headed "The Shade of
Trees".52 He begins,
The popularity of outdoor living (especially
for recreation) took time to develop, and was
most evident post-WW2, with the combined
effects of increased wealth and leisure time,
and the influence of written works from
landscape architects from California such as
Garret Eckbo and Thomas Church. Their
ideas became entrenched in popular house
and garden-type magazines and the 'age of
the barbeque' dawned. While these times are
outside the real focus of this research, these
circumstances demonstrate the influence of
the acclimatisation effect. It is enough to
recognise the development of the outdoor
living truly 'blossoming' in the 1940s and
1950s and increasing in extent until the
present day. From the 1980s, the 'back deck'
has been a major trend in inner city
suburbia; decks are essentially wide
verandahs, usually roofed and designed to
accommodate entertainment and recreational
activities.
50
In a country like Queensland, where the
days of sunshine are so much in excess of
those of cloud, and the rays of the sun for
many months of the year are so fierce, the
subject of planting for shade purposes is
one of much interest, and no slight
importance to the comfort and health of
the inhabitants of all classes. It is curious
enough, however, that the amount of treeplanting for this purpose which has been
Guest, Sarah (1990), Private Gardens in Australia,
Melbourne: Lothian, pg. 27.
15
51
Queenslander, 10 Feb 1866, pg. 12.
52
Bernays, L.A. (1883) Cultural Industries for Queensland,
Brisbane: Govt. Printer; "The Shade of Trees" pp. 201-8
hitherto done is infinitesimally small, and
that public interest shows little sign of
turning to the subject.
The advice and information presented by
Bernays was not implemented on a grand
scale in Queensland, especially in Brisbane.
Some of the inner city streets were planted
with fig trees around this time, but due to
poor species selection (Ficus macrophylla
do not like poor stony soils, while the Ficus
benjamina have been more successful), and
subsequent roadworks, many of these trees
have been lost. A lengthy quotation from 'an
American writer' (who may have been
Andrew Jackson Downing) was used by
Bernays to support his call for more shade
trees, and includes these observations:
Bernays
continues
his
informative
description of the current circumstances with
an undisguised criticism of current practice
in Queensland as being "far behind the other
Australian Colonies". However he does note
the local exceptions here:
I must except from the above observations
the
towns
of
Rockhampton,
Maryborough, and Toowoomba. In the
former the Municipal Council have
expended large sums in planting the
streets
…
In
Maryborough
a
commencement has been made in street
planting, which gives fair promise for the
future. In Toowoomba, also, several of
the streets have been planted, and, upon
the whole, with well-selected trees ; some
of these first planted already affording a
grateful shade to the wayfarer.53
"No one even the most ignorant," says an
American writer, "can doubt that trees add
to the charms of a location. In summer
time they protect it from the scorching
rays of the sun, and provide pleasant and
cool retreats from the heat … at the close
of day, when the work is done, trees
present an irresistible attraction to draw
families together to sit under their shade,
and exercise an undoubted influence over
the mind."55
Bernays provides examples of successful
tree planting for public benefit that had
occurred in other Australian colonies and
several places overseas, to help improve
local practice:
Finally, among the advice and criticism
provided by Bernays was included a list of
preferred and readily obtainable species,
according to the author, which is remarkable
for at least one particular reason.56 Of the 49
species listed, 24 are of exotic origin and 25,
over half, are native to Queensland. This
begins to put in focus and in time, the
recognition of the value of native plants for
useful and ornamental purposes. Bernays'
selection of plants included several species
that have proven to be excellent shade
and/or street trees: Cupania anacardiodes,
Waterhousea floribunda (syn. Eugenia
Ventenatii), Harpullia pendula, Hibiscus
tiliaceus and Lophestemon confertus (syn.
Tristania conferta). He also mentions
Castenospermum australe, as well as a few
exotics now thought to be close to weed
status such as Cinnamomum camphora (syn.
Laurus camphora) and Schinus molle. His
inclusion of 8 fig species (3 exotic and 5
Travellers in the Southern Colonies
cannot fail to be struck with the immense
superiority which they – especially New
South Wales and Victoria – present over
Queensland in this regard … the number
of public gardens and well-planted and
maintained reserves throughout the
colony [of Victoria] is legion. Going
further afield, among the Englishspeaking communities, we find in the
United States that the creation and
maintenance of plantations and the
planting of streets is regarded not only as
an important but an essential function of
municipal bodies ... The principal cities of
the Continent of Europe present the most
perfect examples in the world of street
planting. There it is the invariable practice
to plant trees with the greatest care, to
provide them with good soil, and to spend
a great deal of money in attending to and
watering them.54
53
Brisbane: Govt. Printer. pg. 202
55
Brisbane: Govt. Printer. pg. 204
54
Brisbane: Govt. Printer. pp. 202-3
56
Brisbane: Govt. Printer. pp. 207-8
16
native)57 is notable, as is his exclusion of the
three important Queensland members of the
Araucariaceae
family
(Araucaria
cunninghamia, A. bidwilli and Agathis
robusta). The latter may be missing because
of a perception that, while being striking
'feature specimens', they are less suitable as
shade trees.
playgrounds at Paddington (1918), East
Street, Fortitude Valley (1922), and at
Spring Hill (1927).60 The first of these
playgrounds was featured at the Town
Planning Conference of 1918.61 These
supervised playgrounds legitimised the
outdoor play of children, connecting these
activities with good health, sunshine, clean
air and education, particularly for those in
working class suburbs. Subsequently, the
creation of playgrounds in public parks
(unsupervised)
and
school
grounds
proliferated throughout Queensland.
Public parks were a feature of many larger
urban centers from the late 19th century.
Using the guidelines for Government
Surveyors, Queensland urban centers were
surveyed with reserves set aside for
recreation, parks and gardens, and
sometimes for scenic lookout or botanic
garden purposes.58 As the municipalities
grew, some of these reserves were
developed as botanic gardens or as public
parks. Shade tree planting being a significant
component of the development of these
recreational reserves. Early efforts at townplanning and urban design in Brisbane were
highlighted with the second national Town
Planning Conference held there in 1918. 59
These efforts included the development of
several new public parks: New Farm Park,
Newstead Park and a renovated Bowen Park,
by then owned by the Brisbane City
Council. Coinciding with these events was
the influence of the Playground Association,
which established specialised children’s
57
58
59
Conclusion
By the turn of the 20th century,
Queenslanders had gained some two or more
generations of experience (in gardening,
agriculture and lifestyle) of local conditions
and climates. They were becoming familiar
with the opportunities and constraints of
gardening in the sub/tropics. However, the
effects of weeds such as the Prickly Pear,
World Wars and economic Depressions
stifled gardening practices in the State.
Ornamental gardening was the first to suffer
while vegetable and fruit gardens justified
by their usefulness even in the hardest times
remained as the most popular form of
private garden in the early decades of the
20th century.
The availability of motor transport after
WWI led to an expansion of recreational
opportunities. The seaside, the mountains
and the countryside were all destinations for
caravanning travellers and day-trippers
The fig tree species recommended by Bernays were:
Exotics: Ficus benghalensis (Banyan tree of India), F.
religiosa (Peepul, Sacred Fig of India) & F. sycomorus
(Sycamore of Scripture); Natives: Ficus benjamina
(Weeping Fig), F. virens var. lanceolata syn. F.
Cunninghamii (White or Cunningham's Fig), F.
racemosa syn. F. glomerata (Cluster Fig), F.
macrophylla (Moreton Bay Fig), Small-leaved Moreton
Bay Fig (F. obliqua) is/was not F. rubignosa which is
actually the Port Jackson Fig from NSW - an error by
Bernays. The full list of these trees is in Appendix D.
Walker, Meredith (1981), "Historic Towns in
Queensland: An Introductory Study". Unpublished report
for the National Trust of Queensland, Brisbane, Section
1.2.6 "Town Layout and Road Pattern," pp.1-9 to 1-13
and Appendices 7, 8 and 9 which are extracts from
official rules and regulations issued by the Lands
Department from 1878, 1890 and 1898 to guide
surveyors.
Volume of proceedings of the second Australian town
planning conference and exhibition (under the official
recognition of the Queensland government) Brisbane
(Queensland), 30th July to 6th August, 1918. Brisbane:
A.J. Cumming, Govt. printer, 1919 ; and, Freestone,
Robert (1989), Model Communities: The Garden City
Movement in Australia. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson.
17
60
The work of Miss May Josephine Bedford in the
Playground Association was influenced by American
playground prototypes described in great detail in the
publication by landscape architects: Leland, Arthur
and Lorna Higbee Leland (1909), Playground Technique
and Playcraft. Washington, DC: McGrath & National
Recreation and Park Association. [Source: "Bedford
Playground, Spring Hill", Dept of Environment, Entry in
the Queensland Heritage Register 601786]
61
"Children's Model Playground, Town of Ithaca [Caxton
Street, Paddington]" was a plan drawn and designed by
Robert Black "Authorised Surveyor & Town Engineer,
July 1918" and published as part Volume of proceedings
of the second Australian town planning conference and
exhibition (under the official recognition of the
Queensland government) Brisbane (Queensland), 30th
July to 6th August, 1918. Brisbane : A.J. Cumming,
Govt. printer, 1919
alike. Tourism in Queensland became a
serious economic industry between the
world wars, made possible by the rich
variety of natural resources of beaches (surf,
sand, tropical islands and coral reefs),
'jungles' (rainforests on the Atherton
Tablelands, Tambourine Mountain and the
Lamington Plateau) and numerous scenic
waterfalls in many parts of the State. This
commercial use of climate and natural
resources continues at the close of the 20th
century.
On the home front, gardening and outdoor
living provide key examples of getting used
to the sub/tropical climates. The rise in
popularity of the native plants was marked
during the 1970s, with ideas of bush
gardens, low-maintenance gardening and
water-wise approaches. This time was also
the beginning of the boom in decks out the
back of old timber houses: the newest
version of the verandah allowing 'living
outside' – the catch-cry of Queensland. The
boom times of the 1980s meant rapid
development of tourist resorts, golf courses,
hotels and theme parks, designed by
landscape architects in a semi-standardised
'International
Resort'
idiom
(formal
arrangements of palms, hedges of tropical
shrubs and massed groundcovers, using a
limited plant palette). At the close of the 20th
century, Queensland garden design is at its
most diverse: wild Cottage Gardens vie with
formal gardens (Tuscan or Mediterranean
themed), while Rainforest Gardens sit beside
bushland regeneration schemes. But learning
how to garden in the 'tropics' continues, as
each new wave of newcomers (amateur and
professional) is acclimatised.
18
2
LAND
as the focus of Queensland's history
by Brian J. Hudson
The foundation of cultural landscapes, in terms of both the physical setting or platform where
human activities occur, and the resources, such as soil and vegetation, which influence the
nature of those activities, is the land itself. For this reason, land can be regarded as an
appropriate focus for historical studies, all the more so when the immediate concern is cultural
and heritage landscapes. Queensland is fortunate to have in W. Ross Johnston an historian who
has taken a land focused view of history, and the following is a very brief chronological account
of this state's development based on his book, The Call of the Land: A History of Queensland to
the Present Day (1982).
19
were largely replaced by those of mainly
European origin. By the end of 1841 the
Darling Downs had been mapped out for the
squatters – with no regard for the
Aborigines, and well ahead of government
regulations. By the end of 1842 there were
forty-five runs on the Darling Downs'
(Johnston 1982:25).For some, such as
Presbytarian clergyman, John Dunmore
Lang, the vast open spaces of New South
Wales offered suitable land for some of
'overcrowded' Britain's surplus population,
and, consequently, organized migration
schemes contributed to the flow of European
people into the area later to be known as
Queensland. By the 1850s colonists had
established themselves in the Moreton,
Darling Downs and Maranoa regions, while
settlement was proceeding rapidly in Wide
Bay, Burnett and coastal Capricornia. North
Queensland was about to experience a
similar fate. It was at this stage, in
December, 1859, that Queensland separated
from New South Wales to form a new
colony.
Aboriginal Queensland
Before the European invasion, the area we
now know as Queensland was occupied by
Aboriginal peoples who had adapted to and
who, themselves, had adapted a wide range
of natural environments. Some of them,
particularly the coastal belt, were especially
favourable for human habitation, others,
notably, the sandy deserts of the interior,
much less so. The tropical northern tip of
Cape York with its overseas trading and
cultural contacts was probably the most
densely populated part of all Australia.
Despite the shifting hunting and gathering
economy and general absence of permanent
settlements, there was 'a strong sense of
territory' (Johnston 1982:4) To the
Aborigines, attachment to the land was
important, but not merely for economic
reasons. 'Certainly it provided sustenance –
but it was a shared frame of reference,
shared with the animals, with the vegetation,
with the spirits. It provided a framework for
life: it was not to be used, to be exploited, to
be worked. It was a setting, an environmentnot a commodity, not an asset, not a
possession. Most significantly it had
spiritual meaning' (Johnston 1982:4).
1860s, 1870s and 1880s
Exploration of the north and the interior
continued, 'often in search for minerals,
sometimes for pastoral purposes' (Johnston
1982:16),
as
European
settlement
consolidated and expanded in the more
readily accessible areas, especially in the
south-east and along the coast. Apart from
the old convict town turned state capital,
Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Drayton
and Warwick were among the more
important settlements of the south-east,
while further north were Maryborough,
which dominated Wide Bay, and Gayndah
the centre for the Burnett. Further north still,
port towns were centres of growth, their
development
associated
with
the
exploitation of the interior regions. Between
1863 and 1870, Richard Daintree discovered
gold and copper deposits on the Burdekin,
Cape, Einasleigh, Gilbert and Etheridge
rivers, and he also began to investigate coal
seams in the Collinsville area. These
discoveries encouraged more explorers and
prospectors, and in addition to the mineral
deposits which were found, other important
Early European Settlement
This attitude to land was not shared by the
invaders who began to penetrate and exploit
the area in the first half of the 19th century.
The typical European way of evaluating the
land is expressed in the words of Logan
who, in 1827, described the Brisbane valley
as, 'excellently watered, and fit for any
purpose to which it may be applied'
(Johnston 1982:5). Similarly, in the same
year Cunningham described the Darling
Downs as ' fine open grazing country…open
to our most extensive flocks and herds', an
area in which 'timbers, moreover, add to its
importance' (Johnston 1982:8-9). At first the
'Aborigines tended to overlook these
incursions, failing to realize that the white
explorers were sizing up the economic
potential of the land' (Johnston 1982:7), but,
inevitably, conflict grew. In the ensuing
contest the Aboriginal peoples and, to a
considerable extent, their landscapes, too,
19
resources were reported, including rich land
suitable for sugar cultivation and valuable
cedar stands between Cardwell and
Cooktown. To exploit the state's mineral
resources more effectively, routes were
opened up between inland mining centres
and ports along the coast.
agricultural development – sugar – a crop
suited to the state's tropical conditions. The
introduction of cane cultivation brought with
it the plantation system and imported
Melanesian labour, both influencing the
landscape to a marked degree in the coastal
lowlands.
During this period the Aboriginal people
continued to be displaced or massacred by
the Europeans, conflict sometimes arising
from misunderstandings about the use of
land and resources, or over sexual codes of
behaviour, but often as a result of the
common attitude that it was necessary to get
rid of the native population in order to make
the best (most profitable) use of the country.
With the establishment of the state of
Queensland the new legislators sought to
adopt a land policy which balanced the
interests of the pastoralists and the smaller
allotment holders, recognizing the pioneer
work and economic contribution of the
squatters who had 'opened up' the vast
'empty' regions while, at the same time,
encouraging closer settlement. To this end,
the 'land was classified into different
categories – town, suburban, (very small
nearby farming allotments) and country'
(Johnston 1982:51). While large areas of the
latter were held leasehold, squatters believed
that, having ' opened up and developed'
(Johnston 1982:50) the land, in some
instances even being the 'discoverers', the
properties should remain in their possession
and not be returned to the government at the
end of the lease. Darling Downs pastoralists
succeeded in freeholding the best parts of
their large runs, particularly the creeks and
flats, 'but the basic government intention
was to have the land used under reasonably
stable leasehold conditions and to encourage
the taking up of the whole colony primarily
for pastoral purposes' (Johnston 1982:5253). During this period land as a state asset,
a source of wealth from rents and rising
capital value, remained a contentious
political issue.
Meanwhile, inland mining was transforming
the landscape in areas where minerals had
been discovered – limestone and coal in the
Ipswich area in the early days later followed
by gold further north, the rushes generally
being short-lived. More substantial deposits,
however, could make a permanent impact,
as in the case of Gympie which developed
on the gold field that shored up the state's
finances in the 1860s and flourished into the
1880s and beyond. By this time gold was
discovered and mined elsewhere, notably at
Charters Towers and Mount Morgan. Gold
mining drew to Queensland workers and
fortune seekers from the southern states and
also attracted many from overseas, notably
Chinese who, in some areas outnumbered
Europeans. Violent conflict between these
groups was common. Other minerals which
were exploited included copper, silver and
tin, while coal showed sporadic growth
through to the 1890s. Associated with
mining was the development of railways, but
from the miners' point of view these tended
to arrive too late, coming when the mines
were already in decline. While some of the
towns created by mining survived the
eventual collapse of the industry, many
others declined as rapidly as they arose
when the deposits were worked out.
The pioneer work of the pastoralists,
farmers, miners and others was followed by
the development of transportation and
communications infrastructure, including
roads and railways, post, telegraph and
banking services. Brisbane remained
Queensland's dominant city, 'but it did not
hold the same predominance as the capital
cities in the rest of Australia' (Johnston
1982:92). Although it had grown very
rapidly in the 1870s and early 1880s and
possessed several fine public buildings, its
'expansion was being held back by the
Despite
government
efforts,
closer
settlement did not eventuate, but there was
one major development in Queensland's
20
rivalry of provincial cities and towns
(Johnston 1982:93). Industry, including
manufacturing, was expanding gradually,
much of it centred on mining and sugar. The
processing of raw materials required
relatively simple technology and limited
capital, meatworks and sugar mills being
scattered throughout the colony.
Mary River regions, and it spread along
settled parts of the coast, to sugar areas in
Mackay and the Burdekin. The AthertonMalanda area in the far north also in the 20th
century turned to dairying' (Johnston
1982:140). Closer settlement was at last
being realized, with dairying and mixed
farming, including wheat production,
providing a more secure livelihood.
1890s to 1915
By 1914 Queensland was Australia's leading
producer of beef and sugar and the second
largest producer of wool. Dairying and
wheat production were also important and
minerals continued to contribute to the
state's development. Manufacturing industry
continued to make slow progress, most of it
related to the processing of primary produce
and the production of building materials –
meat works, sugar mills, dairies, timber
mills etc. – as well as a range of machinery
works supporting the railways, mining and
sugar production.
While the rapid exploitation of Queensland's
natural resources brought great wealth to a
small capitalist class, workers often felt that
they were being denied the proper rewards
for their labours, and many immigrants
found themselves 'dumped on the shore,
unable to find work or relief' (Johnston
1982:112). From the mid-1880s rising
worker militancy led to the growth of trade
unionism in Queensland, the rate of
development being slow in comparison with
the more industrially advanced southern
colonies. Nevertheless, with a growing
support for Socialist ideals, signs of the class
struggle emerged in the form of labour and
employer organizations, and strike action.
'The state plainly came out on the side of
employers' (Johnston 1982:117). To 'the
forces of conservatism, of the establishment,
of men of property, of the middle class in
general' (Johnston 1982:117) it was the
spectre of Communism that threatened the
colony. While labour disunity and repressive
government action tended to weaken the
union movement, on the political front
advances were made in the form of the
growth of the Labor Party which officially
contested general elections for the first time
in 1893. Miners and pastoral labourers
provided the basis of support which led to
the winning of sixteen seats, most of them in
northern and central Queensland.
1915-1980
'The distinguishing feature of Queensland's
history has been the presence of the rural
factor, so that even in the 1980s Queensland
is more rurally centred than are the other
states of Australia' (Johnston 1982:179).In
the 1930s and 40s dairying and sugar were
encouraged at the expense of wool and beef,
in part reflecting closer settlement policy,
while the coal industry 'staggered along'
(Johnston 1982:181). The copper mines of
Cloncurry gave way to lead and silver
production at Mt. Isa, involving vast sums of
overseas investment and increasing foreign
control. Secondary industry remained at a
level of simple technology, mainly
processing primary products, although
World War II brought some industrial
advances, including munitions works and
ship building in the Brisbane area.
Immigration into the state was relatively
slow, partly because of Queensland's attitude
to migrants. Nevertheless, by 1933 one-third
of Australia's Italian-born population lived
in Queensland, mainly in the sugar
producing areas of the tropical north.
'The landscape was rapidly changing. The
broad, open acres with contested stock were
giving way to small rectangular farms, with
fences, roads and railway lines crisscrossing the panorama, broken up by houses,
yards and dams. Little villages and small
towns sprang up to service the needs of the
farming families. This scene was repeated
from the Downs through the Moreton and
21
After 1945 'both the rural population and
rural production were losing their share of
significance in the overall structure of the
state' (Johnston 1982:192). The real basis of
Queensland's development in the 1960s and
1970s was in the mining industry, especially
coal. The main centres of production moved
from the older Moreton field with its many
small, mostly underground mines, to new
fields, notably in the Bowen Basin. The
1950s and the Korean War gave a boost to
Mount Isa's lead, and there was a new surge
in the demand for copper. The 1950s also
saw the discovery of bauxite in Cape York,
leading to US and UK financed mining
there, and to related industrial development
at Gladstone. Oil, natural gas and uranium
were also added to the list of Queensland's
mineral products, while gold production still
continued, but at a low level.
The people most neglected by those pressing
for economic development were the
Aborigines. Some whites thought that
Aborigines should be allowed limited care
as they gradually vanished into extinction;
others saw them as problem people requiring
protection. In 1965, legislation ended the old
system of protection, replacing it with
assimilation. After suffering years of being
exploited, displaced and institutionalised,
Aboriginal groups grew increasingly
dissatisfied with the official attitudes and
became more active in their claims for land
rights.
'The problem of Aborigines and Islanders is
that of the unresolved issue of their
relationship to the land of Queensland, after
being disturbed in their occupation of it by
the white incursion. Yet for the white
population, too, there is a growing problem
revolving around relationships to the land
and its treatment. In spite of its beauty, in
spite of its economic potential, the people of
Queensland treat the land carelessly, doing
many things to damage it' (Johnston
1982:203;205). This is evident not least in
the treatment of Queensland's forests, and it
is notable that, in his book, The Call of the
Land, W. Ross Johnston gives relatively
little attention to the forests or to forestry,
even as a temporary land use. In general, the
author tends to treat the forests as an
assumed background to the history of
development, the land they formerly covered
entering the story only after the trees had
been cleared for pasture or cultivation. This
appears to reflect the attitude of the
Queensland government which, over the
years has had a poor record in forestry
policy, largely failing to give adequate
protection to the state's forests.
It was the golden sands and sunshine of
Queensland's coast that gave rise to a
valuable new industry, tourism. By the end
of the 1970s this had become the state's
fourth most valuable industry, the Gold
Coast being the major centre, with the
Sunshine Coast following suit. With
improvements in sea and air transport, the
Great Barrier Reef and Cairns and its
tropical hinterland also began to develop
rapidly as tourist destinations.
'The theme of development is writ large in
the history of Queensland. The state is
fortunate in being endowed with such a wide
range of rich resources – the grasslands for
pastoral purposes, the fertile soils for sugar
and other agriculture, an array of minerals.
Since the beginnings of white settlement the
leaders have been determined to exploit the
potential of the land, and they have not had
to wait to find people willing to take up the
challenge' (Johnston 1982:200). The
dominance of the profit motive, however,
and emphasis on economic growth have
sometimes been at the expense of the
community. 'In their quest for profit, the
developers have overlooked the role of
social development'(Johnston 1982:200).
The focus of Johnston's book is the land
itself, and human history as played out and
impacting on it through social and economic
processes. In general, the role of the
individual is given little attention, although
the author clearly recognises the changes in
the landscape that are achieved by individual
people working en masse. Perhaps, for the
purpose of the Contested Terrains study,
22
more attention should be given to the
influence of certain individuals or families,
some of whom have left their distinctive
mark on the landscape, for example, the
O'Rileys
(Green
Mountain/Lamington
National Park), Clem Jones (Brisbane) and
even Keith Williams (Hinchinbrook
Channel). In other instances, the link
between the individual and the landscape is
mainly one of historical association, as in
the case of Captain Cook and Possession
Island, Cooktown, Endeavour Reef and the
Glasshouse Mountains.
References
Johnston, W. Ross (1982), The Call of the Land: A History of
Queensland to the Present Day. Milton, Qld:
Jacaranda Press.
23
3
DEVELOPMENT
the prime agent of change
by Danny O'Hare
The term "development" is much used in descriptions of Queensland throughout the 19th and
20th centuries. The background to this chapter is primarily drawn from Ross Fitzgerald's twovolume history of Queensland (Fitzgerald 1982, 1984). Development is the activity that
accounts for the transformation of the Queensland landscape between Fitzgerald's (1982:3)
opening chapter, "the land as it was", and his closing chapter, "the land as it is" (1984).
24
LANDSCAPE HISTORIES 3: Development
living things that it entailed – nature in all
its forms was to be conquered and
subdued – which had characterized 19th
century Queensland, carried over
unchanged in most essential aspects into
the 20th century… With the partial
exception of T.J. Ryan's allegedly
'socialistic' 1915-19 government, in
Queensland an overriding commitment to
'progress' and material development
manifested itself in policy and political
action… (Fitzgerald 1984:xv)
In Australia, and perhaps more so in
Queensland, "development" is commonly
understood to have two meanings. The first
is that of development as "progress", with
chiefly (but not only) an economic
emphasis. The second meaning is a more
physical one, involving the construction of
infrastructure and of cities, towns, suburbs
and the parts of them. In this second familiar
meaning, the scope of "development" is
understood to include whole towns
(developed in a single burst or
incrementally) and "property development"
and redevelopment – ie construction on
individual privately owned or leased parcels
of land. The second type of development has
usually taken place within the motivations of
the first meaning of the term. The second
definition of development is equivalent to
that used in the Queensland Heritage Act
1992 and the Integrated Planning Act 1997.
In his first volume, subtitled From the
dreaming to 1915, Fitzgerald (1982) details
how the progress ethic of material economic
development motivated Cook's voyage,
Commandant Logan's management of the
Brisbane penal settlement, the early
squatters, the private sponsorship of
Leichhardt's explorations, first Governor
Bowen's overseeing of "the moving
frontier", the goldrush diggers, and those
who established agriculture. In its first
century, Queensland became a contested
terrain: settlers versus aborigines; squatters
versus farmers; squatters versus the
administration; European versus Chinese
gold diggers; separation versus control from
"the south"; and, within Queensland, the
north versus the south. These and other
contests were driven by the pursuit of
progress and development. This first major
wave of development involved the
establishment of pastoral runs, farming
areas, mines, ports, cities, towns, railways,
roads,
administrative
and
social
infrastructure.
This paper sets the context of development
as progress and then moves into detail on
the development of infrastructure, property
and Queensland's settlement pattern. The
purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how a
Queensland cultural landscape has been
created and transformed by the pursuit of
development at the State, regional and local
levels.
Development as progress
In the Prologue to each of his two volumes
of Queensland history, Ross Fitzgerald
clearly articulates "one key theme: the effect
of a particularly European idea of progress
upon the land, the flora and fauna, the
institutions, and the peoples of Queensland"
(1982:xv). Although not using the term,
"cultural landscape", Fitzgerald's approach is
consistent with the idea that the land is
reshaped by cultural forces, over time.
Establishing Queensland as a
cultural landscape of progress
Penal Port – Pastoral Nexus
(1820s-1850s)
The establishment of a penal settlement at
Moreton Bay in 1824 was as much for
economic development purposes as for
convict control (Fitzgerald 1982:65). The
initial choice of Redcliffe was quickly found
to be unsuitable for settlement due to
shallow anchorage, poor agricultural
prospects and vulnerability to native attack.
In 1825, the settlement relocated to the
banks of the Brisbane River, establishing a
Although the extraordinarily optimistic
ideals of Turgot, Condorcet, Comte and
Saint-Simon, for example, focussed on
the progress of the human mind (and also
on cultural development), in Queensland,
as in the rest of Australia, it was the
intoxicating vision of economic progress
and dominance over the material universe
that especially took hold. The notion of
progress and the attitude to the land and
25
framework for what has become the centre
of government and business. In 1827,
Dunwich, on Stradbroke Island, was
established as a depot for transfer of goods
and people from ships to smaller vessels
more suited to the Brisbane River.
In the 1860s, the colony's population grew
dramatically, as a response to a concerted
immigration campaign in London. In
addition,
Catholic
Bishop
Quinn's
Immigration Society attracted 4000 Irish
settlers in 1862-65 (Fitzgerald 1982:127). At
this time, railway development commenced
in South-East Queensland, providing
infrastructure for further development and
settlement.
From 1827, the pastoral settlement of the
Darling Downs ensured an economic base
for the future colony. The economic
development of Brisbane was assisted by
Cunningham's finding of a trafficable gap in
the Great Dividing Range in 1828. This
route, like many others in Australia's early
development, was one that had been used by
Aborigines. By 1842, squatters had taken up
most of the Darling Downs, as well as inland
areas adjacent to Port Curtis (Gladstone).
The spread of pastoralism involved a
"guerrilla war" with the Aborigines (Horne,
in Fitzgerald 1982:95).
Pastoral Expansion – Agricultural
Infrastructure and Aboriginal
Resistance (1860s-1880s)
The importance of rural development in the
Queensland ethos has its roots in the fact
that pastoralism was the new colony's only
productive industry when Queensland came
into existence in 1859. The 1860 Land Act
hastened pastoral settlement, stocking and
production. Land legislation has continued
to be of significance. The importance of land
to Queensland is reflected in the prominence
of the Land Administration building among
the public buildings of Brisbane and the
regional centres (as in other states). The
"overlanding epic" of the early 1860s
continues to be celebrated in poetry, prose
and folk songs. "The rapid spread of pastoral
settlement in Queensland was a remarkable
achievement comparable to the great
movement west in North America"
(1982:133). The Aborigines, whose land
ownership was denied on the basis that they
were not seen to use the land, staged fierce
resistance. This conflict was a conflict over
development. The pastoral occupation of the
Queensland frontier was completed by the
mid-1880s (1982:146), assisted by the
opening of northern ports, including
Townsville in 1864. Railways were
extended in the 1880s to provide the
infrastructure
to
consolidate
the
development of the rural economy.
Government also led the way in exploiting
artesian water for development, sinking the
Cunnamulla bore in 1882 and others during
the 1884-86 drought. By the end of the
century 800 private bores had been sunk
(1982:148-50), boosting the colony's
pastoral development capacity.
Moving Frontier –Primary Production
the Key to Wealth (1860s)
By the time Queensland separated from
NSW in 1859, "the idea of progress [was]
inseparably attached to the 'moving
frontier'": first Governor Bowen observing
that "At the close of every year, … the
margin of Christianity and civilization has
been pushed forward by some 200 miles"
(Fitzgerald 1982:113, citing Bolton). As the
pastoralists pushed northward, Bowen was
established in 1859 as the first north
Queensland town. Fitzgerald argues that the
notions of progress/development then
current, persist into the Queensland of today
(1982:114-5).
Governor Bowen and first Premier Herbert
regarded Queensland as "a great property to
be developed along sound business lines for
the benefit of the colonists and prosperity"
(Farnfield 1974, cited in Fitzgerald
1982:125).
Both
believed
primary
production was the key to all wealth. In the
early 1860s, cotton plantations were
established in South-East Queensland,
helped by the American Civil War and the
Coolie Act enabling the importation of
Kanaka labour.
26
Cardwell, Mossman and Proserpine. The
distribution of the wealth was assisted by the
effect of closer settlement legislation, so that
the large plantation system had passed by
the 1880s (threatened also by the loss of
Kanaka labour). In 1887, the government
established a Department of Agriculture "to
promote a more scientific approach to
cultivation" (1982:186).
Gold Boom – Development of Ports
and Towns (1860s-1870s)
The European model of economic
development rides on a continual sequence
of boom and recession. The 1866 collapse of
the British banks brought Queensland close
to bankruptcy, due to the reliance of both the
colony and its main industry on British
development capital. The Mt Morgan
goldrush in 1866 inspired the government to
offer rewards for gold finds as an alternative
source of wealth. The Gympie goldrush
followed in 1867 and saved the colony from
bankruptcy (1984:155). Other rushes
followed with boomtowns developing at
Ravenswood (1868), Charters Towers
(1871), Palmer River and Cooktown (1873).
Cairns was founded in 1876 as a port to
serve the Hodgkinson goldfields, and the
construction of a railway to the goldfields
secured its role against competition from
Cooktown and Port Douglas (1982:165).
Rockhampton and Townsville were also
developed as ports for mining areas. The
fine commercial and public buildings of
Charters Towers display its wealth and
optimism of the time, and the area's
economy is still partly based on mining.
Gympie survives as a rural service centre
following the end of the gold rush. Other
boom towns such as Ravenswood and
Cooktown became ghost towns, providing a
basis for some revival in the late 20th
century for tourism development.
In agriculture, trees, like the Aborigines,
were seen as "rural pests" and obstacles to
development (1982:191). Demand for timber
in the 1880s made logging a boom industry,
but much timber was wasted in the frenzy of
clearing for agricultural development.
Aborigines, Chinese and Kanakas played an
important role in developing Queensland,
yet this was unrecognised and denied. For
example, Chinese market gardens not only
fed the goldfields populations in the north,
but also demonstrated the economic
potential for Cairns' – and Queensland's –
rice and banana industries. As well, they
provided the labour to clear large areas for
agriculture. The title of Fitzgerald's (1982)
fifth chapter identifies the three groups as
"outsiders" and "victims of progress".
Urban Consolidation
The Queensland development pattern
established by the early 20th century
confirmed that the state capital would never
be able to dominate the state to the extent
seen in the other states. Fitzgerald
(1984:291) notes the development of several
important provincial centres in Queensland,
all of which have their own clusters of
significant population and industries; "[T]his
in turn is related to a railway system which
fans out into the state's interior from a
number of ports dotted along the vast coast."
Consequently, the development theme has
been better able to dominate other political
issues in Queensland. The materialistic and
practical
orientation
of
Queensland
electorates towards the development and
physical transformation of the land took
precedence over higher ideals such as
philosophy and the nature of government
(1982:305-8).
"Gold did more to bring Europeans to
Queensland and to establish white settlement
in Queensland's tropics than any pastoral or
agricultural product ever did… The placing
of towns, ports, and railways is a legacy of
the early history of mining…" (1982:179).
The mining provided a stimulus to broader
development, attracting the development of
infrastructure for other ventures including
agriculture.
Sugar Plantations, Sugar Towns and
Marginalised Groups (1880s-1890s)
During the remaining decades of the 19th
century, the sugar industry stimulated the
development of the towns of Innisfail,
Mackay, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Ingham,
27
[G]iven their optimistic faith in material
'progress', white Queenslanders – either
owning or aspiring to own property –
nurtured a deep-seated concern for social
and political stability. The stress on the
struggle to 'develop' – at whatever cost –
and the consequent neglect of intellectual
and moral issues, coupled with the high
incidence of environmental and climatic
hazards,
especially
in
tropical
Queensland, reinforced the concern with
stability in the Sunshine State. (Fitzgerald
1982:335)
Despite the rivalry of the northern ports and
their regions, development in Brisbane after
1859 – and particularly in the 1880s boom transformed it from a minor outpost to a
capital city. After the boom-and-bust 1860s,
new government buildings imparted an air
of permanence and importance in the 1870s.
The impressive National Bank in Queen
Street (1885) demonstrated business
confidence. The Treasury Building, the
Exhibition Building, Bellevue Hotel and
other impressive public and private
buildings demonstrated a prestige and
stability to protect confidence during the
devastation of the 1893 floods and economic
Depression.
Closer Settlement
In the Labor years from 1915-1929, closer
settlement of rural areas was regarded as
essential to both moral and economic
progress (1984:26). These governments had
strong support from the Catholic Church and
its leader, Archbishop Duhig. Rural
development was supported by government
provision of roads, bridges, railways, and
State advances to agricultural producers and
development of export produce schemes
(1984:55-6). During WWI, sugar and wheat
growers' pools and voluntary cooperatives
were established as a means of protection
against potential monopolies such as CSR.
Moves for separate states in the north were
stimulated by, and ultimately defeated by,
the Queensland themes of development and
progress. London investors had lent the
government its development funds on the
basis of the growth potential of the whole of
Queensland; separation into smaller units
would threaten the security of these bonds
by reducing future taxing potential
(1982:285).
Development versus Democracy
Closer settlement had little success outside
the south-east of the state, particularly as
little consideration was given to "a whole
host of human, ecological and biological
factors" (1984:57). Similarly, the 1917
Soldier Settlers' scheme (Innisfail – sugar;
Beerburrum – pineapples; and Stanthorpe –
orchards) had little success (1984:57).
Fitzgerald (1984:59) notes the important role
played by the QCWA in supporting rural
women and communities after its
establishment in 1922.
The McIlwraith Conservative government
era (three terms between 1879 and 1893)
established a close rapport between business
and government to pursue this Premier's
"grandiose dreams of development"
(1982:311): "Underlying all … was the
Biblical concept of 'Queensland as a tabula
rasa upon which the real progenitor of
progress, the entrepreneur, could and should
be allowed to write as he willed' "
(Waterson, cited in Fitzgerald 1982:312).
The same attitude was aligned with similar
business-government links during the
Bjelke-Petersen era (1970s-1980s).
Developing Infrastructure in
country and city (1920s-1930s)
Irrigation schemes were established on the
Burdekin and Dawson Rivers in the 1920s,
while others failed to eventuate due to lack
of federal funding (1984:63). The Dawson
River scheme, only partially completed,
included the new town of Theodore and
promised a "healthier and happier [life] than
Fitzgerald (1982:335) links late 19th and
early 20th century "breaches of democracy"
– draconian suppressions of industrial unrest
through the suppression of civil liberties –
with Queensland's intense development
ethos.
28
in the crowded cities of the coast" (QIWSC,
cited in Fitzgerald 1984:64).
State public works in Brisbane led to
conflicts between the State Government and
Brisbane City Council (Fitzgerald 1984:1713). The Council also instituted extensive
public works in the 1930s, including
improving sewerage and suburban roads.
Conflicts with rural councils and private
electricity companies occurred when the
State Government established a state
electricity board in 1937 (1984:172-3). State
intervention sought to appease the
complaints of farmers that "'city parasites'
could flick on the power switch at will",
while lack of farm electricity prevented the
introduction of milking machines and other
capital equipment.
Given the isolation of most of inland
Queensland, it is not surprising that Qantas
airlines and two early Royal Flying Doctor
Service bases were established there. The
coastal rail link from Brisbane to Cairns was
completed in 1924 (1984:62), providing an
alternative to coastal shipping. The railways
reinforced the regional settlement pattern of
dominance by coastal cities and towns. The
role of several of these ports was enhanced
by the expansion of rail links to their rural
hinterlands in the 19th century and to inland
mining areas in the 20th century.
Development versus
Natural Environment
The success of the sugar industry in the
1920s attracted government and private
development. Tully was gazetted as a town
in 1925, and a large government operated
sugar mill opened in 1926 (1984:65). Preexisting towns show evidence of significant
development in this period, for example
Innisfail with its rich art deco building
heritage. Italian immigrants played a large
role in the expansion of the sugar industry.
Development had costs for Queensland's
natural environment. As in the other eastern
states, the rabbit plague in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries had a disastrous effect
on the land, vegetation and native fauna.
Over 34,000 kilometres of rabbit proof fence
were erected by 1920 (1984:73). Various
native species, including the koala, were
severely impacted upon by trapping for their
furs around this time. Also by the 1920s,
prickly pear was threatening pastoral and
agricultural production, having been
introduced as a form of hedging to contain
stock on the Darling Downs around 1850
(1984:77). The 1938 naming of Cactoblastis
Hall
at
Boonara,
near
Chinchilla
commemorates its control by an introduced
insect (1984:79).
Significant public works were carried out in
the 1930s in response to the economic
Depression (Fitzgerald 1984:169-171).
These development projects favoured
Brisbane because its industrial base was
more adversely affected than regional areas,
which had some resilience due to the
dominance of rural industries in the State
economy. Major works included the Story
Bridge and Hornibrook Highway. These two
projects helped to secure the future presence
of two Brisbane based construction firms –
Evans Deakin and Hornibrook Ltd – in
infrastructure projects in Queensland in
subsequent decades. The Somerset Dam was
commissioned, to supply water to Ipswich
and Brisbane. Construction of the St Lucia
campus of the University of Queensland was
another depression era public project,
announced in 1936. Smaller projects
included a new long-distance rail station at
Roma Street, and other rail and drainage
projects in Brisbane.
By the 1920s, large-scale forest clearing, as
much to make way for agriculture as for the
value of the timber, had spread from the
earlier concentration in the upper Logan and
Maryborough areas to the tropical north
around Cardwell and Cairns (1984:79-83).
Criticism of the loss of conservation and
economic values had little effect against the
strength of the development ethic, which
remained focused on closer settlement.
Despite the overall failure to consider long
term forestry development, non-native pine
plantations were established on the failed
soldier settlement land around Beerburrum
29
citizens evacuated to the south of the state.
Secondary industry was boosted in Brisbane,
with a munitions factory at Rocklea (later
used as an aircraft repair factory) and
shipbuilding by Evans Deakin. Shipbuilding
was also boosted at Maryborough. Roads
and aerodromes were upgraded elsewhere in
the state.
and between Gympie and Maryborough
(1984:82).
"The Country Party's national park program
… was confined predominantly to land
considered useless for other purposes"
(Fitzgerald 1984:388). This specific wording
appears in Hansard in 1906 as the main
argument for designating Queensland's first
National Park at Witches Falls, Tamborine
Mountain (O'Hare 1996).
The postwar soldier settlement scheme had
some long-term impact on closer settlement,
but little economic impact (1984:186). The
state emphasis on rural industry and rural
settlement meant that Queensland's share of
postwar immigration was very low: 7.8% of
the national total (1984:186).
Rural Industrial Development (1930s-)
The rural orientation of the Queensland
economy meant that rural-related industries
were an important part of the state's
industrial development. The development of
a large meatworks at Rockhampton by
Vesteys in 1934, was notable. Sugar Mills
were established by CSR and producers'
cooperatives. The cooperatives enabled
more of the economic benefits of the
industry to be retained in the regions. On a
smaller scale, butter factories were
developed in almost every town in dairying
districts. Larger dairy factories were
established in regional centres and in
Brisbane at West End. Large woolstores and
wharves such as those in Teneriffe on the
Brisbane River served the wool industry,
Queensland's largest export earner in the
1930s (1984:173).
The development of the north was an issue
of the national interest for many Australians
after WWII. The strength of the "populate or
perish" belief led to support for a
cooperative venture between the postwar
Queensland and British governments to
develop Peak Downs for national security
and supply of food for Britain. The Peak
Downs venture was a spectacular failure
(1984:188).
Several water management schemes have
been built in the interests of Queensland
rural and urban development, including the
Barron Falls and Tully Falls hydroelectric
schemes and the Mareeba-Dimbulah
irrigation project (Fitzgerald 1984:189).
Such projects depended on Commonwealth
funding, and several grandiose proposals
failed to gain support. The most dramatic
proposal to remain a development dream
was JJC Bradfield's scheme to transfer the
waters of the coastal rivers to the inland
river system.
Queensland's rural development has been
supported by numerous government
initiatives, including the development of the
state's rail network and port facilities, the
establishment of a Department of
Agriculture, the running of rural scientific
and technical courses at Queensland
University and Gatton College. In addition,
there have been the several legislative and
land development projects aimed at fostering
"closer settlement" in the rural areas
(1984:181-2).
Another Mining Boom
(1940s-1960s)
In the World War II copper boom, Mt Isa
became Australia's largest copper mine
(1984:192). After the war, a boom in lead
prices attracted a large cosmopolitan
workforce and led to the population
doubling to 6000 in less than a decade. By
1953, Mt Isa was Queensland's leading
mine. The upgrading of the rail link to
Development, War and Austerity
(1940s)
Fitzgerald (1984) notes that World War II
had a significant impact on Queensland's
development.
Earlier
efforts
at
decentralisation were retarded as northern
30
Townsville ensured its continued regional
dominance. Further development of the
mines brought the population to 26,000 by
the 1980s, by which time new housing
estates,
government
buildings,
and
community, sporting and cultural facilities
had been developed (1984:320).
massive alumina plant to refine Weipa
bauxite (1984:294). Gladstone's population
jumped from 7000 to 16,000 in the 1960s,
and to 27,000 by 1982 (1984:309,310).
Meanwhile, in Brisbane, the Wacol
industrial estate was established, with state
support. Due to transport costs and limited
markets, the decentralisation push did not
dislodge Brisbane-Ipswich as the favoured
location for new manufacturing (1984:294).
Until WWII, coal mining was concentrated
in small fields in the West Moreton region.
After the War, the state government
recognised the potential for mining to assist
its decentralisation aims, and promoted
large-scale open cut mining of the state's
central
and
northern
coal
fields.
Development of the Blair Athol field
assisted the Brisbane Thiess Bros to become
Australia's biggest civil engineering
construction company (1984:195). In 1954,
Gladstone Harbour Board built a major new
coal loading facility, securing Gladstone's
future when coal exports to Japan boomed in
the 1960s.
Mining Expansion (1960s-1980s)
From the late 1960s til the early 1980s,
Queensland's development boom was based
on
mining
expansion
by
mainly
transnational
companies
(1984:304).
Comalco's bauxite mining at Weipa reduced
the Weipa Aboriginal Reserve from over
600,000 hectares to just 134 hectares, with
very little compensation to the inhabitants
(1984:306). In 1963, with the complicity of
the Presbyterian Church, Queensland police
evicted the Mapoon Aboriginal community,
burnt the reserve township and moved the
people to New Mapoon. Subsequently in
1965, Alcan was granted a 105 year lease
over the reserve land (1984:307-8).
Regional development was boosted due to
its political sensitivity in the late 1950s and
early 1960s, with strong movements for
separate states in north and central
Queensland. The potential for the northern
regions to attract state support for
development projects related to Brisbane's
lack of economic and political primacy
compared to the other state capitals in their
respective states. This is due partly to
Queensland's primary industry based
political economy (Fitzgerald 1984:291) and
partly to Brisbane's eccentric location in the
south-east corner of a vast state.
The election of a Country Liberal Party
government in the late 1950s shifted the
regional development agenda from farming
and pastoral enterprises to manufacturing
(1984:293). Mechanisation of the meat and
sugar industries had created serious
unemployment in central Queensland, and
this was only partially offset in Townsville
by new industrial development (a copper
refinery and cement works) and new
infrastructure such as the Mt Isa railway
link. Gladstone, however, attracted massive
investment, including port expansion, the
Moura railway link (for coal export), and a
"By 1976, coal had surpassed wool as
Queensland's leading export…" (1984:323).
The expansion of the coal industry
diversified the rural economy in the
Emerald, Springsure and Biloela areas of
central Queensland. A new rail link from
Moura to Gladstone boosted the role of the
port. Another new line linked the Peak
Downs area to the new port of Hays Point,
near Gladstone. New towns were established
to service the open cut mines, including
Moura, Moranbah, and Dysart, and rural
villages such as Blackwater became bustling
towns housing thousands of mine workers.
Utah and the Queensland Housing
Commission constructed 800 houses in
Moranbah. The long-term contribution to the
development of the region and the state is
questioned, given the 90 per cent foreign
ownership of the mines and the low royalties
charged by Queensland (1984:326-7).
31
contests, particularly as environmental and
heritage concerns have increased. The
Queensland cultural landscape narrative has
been
polarised
around
development
conflicts, particularly since the 1970s.
National media attention has been drawn to
high-rise coastal development on the Gold
and Sunshine Coasts, the destruction of
Noosa beach, the relocation of the mouth of
the Noosa River, the bombing of the largescale Iwasaki Capricorn Resort at Yeppoon,
the demolition of Brisbane's Bellevue Hotel
and
Cloudland
Ballroom,
resort
development on Magnetic Island and near
Cardwell, and the building of the Bloomfield
road in the Daintree area. There have been
scandals over the sale of waterlogged
"residential" land on Russell Island in the
1970s, and interstate sales of allegedly
overpriced investment properties on the
Gold Coast in the 1990s. In non-urban
settings, there have been conflicts over land
clearing, logging, forestry and the impact of
cotton growing on existing agricultural and
pastoral industries. In 1999, rural land
clearing reportedly increased dramatically in
anticipation of the imposition of government
restrictions.
Reflecting the boom-bust pattern of many of
the 19th century gold mining towns, Mary
Kathleen was established as Australia's first
uranium mining town in 1958, became a
ghost town in 1963, reopened in 1974 and
had a chequered history due to fluctuating
markets, union bans and health concerns
(1984:141-4). Mary Kathleen is now closed.
Tourism Development
Much of Queensland's development has
been for the purpose of play as well as for
work. The development of the Gold and
Sunshine Coasts for tourism provided new
outlets for the progress ethic. Noosa in the
1920s provides a case study of collaboration
between the state and local government and
private development companies in extending
the reach of infrastructure and urban
development. Originally a port to serve the
Gympie goldfields and timber getting,
Noosa-Tewantin established its tourist role
of "the Brighton of Gympie" by the 1880s
(Ivimey 1889, in O'Hare 1997). Road access
to the coastal area was provided in 1929, in
a deal between the Noosa Shire Council and
Melbourne-based developer, TM Burke and
Company. Subdividable land owned by the
Council was swapped in return for the
construction of roads and bridges to open up
the coastal area.
Mineral sand mining on the southern
Queensland coast and islands, together with
the NSW north coast, produced over 80 per
cent of the world's rutile and zircon by the
1970s (1984:346). Its proximity to the most
densely populated areas of Queensland led
to conflicts with the recreational and
conservation values of the sands (1984:347).
The Cooloola conflict drew attention to the
deficiencies of Queensland's development
ethos, even from an economic viewpoint
(1984:348), and hastened consideration of
the area for listing on the Register of the
National Estate and its nomination as a
World Heritage site. This conflict, together
with that over logging on Fraser Island,
became a focus for an increase in the profile
and status of conservation groups including
the Noosa Parks Association, FIDO, and the
Cooloola Committee. Subsequent tourism
development in the Cooloola region and
Fraser Island has been motivated by a new
conception of environmental resources.
By the 1970s, Queensland's reputation for
'sun, sand and surf' was well established.
The Gold Coast had become Australia's best
known destination for beach holidays. The
development of resorts on the northern
tropical islands within the Great Barrier
Reef was boosted by the gradual reduction
of the cost of flying from the southern
capitals.
A cultural landscape of
development and conflict
During the 20th century, the initial
settlement pattern has been consolidated and
extended to incorporate new forms of
development including further mining
booms, inner city redevelopment and the
growth of coastal tourism and interstate
retirement
migration.
These
new
developments have been the focus of further
32
Thea Astley's (1994) "big developer" is a
late 20th century caricature of long-held
conceptions of Queensland as "the epitome
of progress" (Queensland Government 1921,
cited in Fitzgerald 1982:115).
Brisbane Development
(1950s-1990s)
Brisbane's Labor Lord Mayor from 19611975, Clem Jones, brought to his office a
strong development ethic, from his former
background as principal of Brisbane's largest
firm of surveyors and as a land dealer
(1984:439). One of his first achievements
was to sewer Brisbane, so that the city was
the most sewered of Australia's state capitals
by the time the Whitlam federal government
took its national urban initiative in the early
1970s. The first Brisbane Town Plan became
law in 1965. Public transport had a low
priority, and the plan incorporated the
Wilbur Smith proposal for a freeway system
combined with major off-street parking
development. In 1967, the Council decided
to replace the tram system with buses "on
the grounds that the trams were slowing
down cars" (1984:441). The decision was
controversial, but quickly resolved with the
burning of many trams in an overnight fire
that destroyed the Paddington tram terminus
in 1969.
Astley's 'Big Developer', a figure 9m-high
moulded out of fibreglass and concrete, in
a semi-gloss acrylic safari suit and white
shoes, is something more than a brother to
the Big Banana and Big Pineapple: 'the
tanned rubbery features and neurotic eyes
moved on their swivel skull to the
smallest breeze, gazing appetantly up and
down the coastline, seeking new empires'.
(Ivor Indyk 26-27 Feb 1994 "The lonely
shores of Queensland", Weekend Australian
– review of Astley 1994 Coda)
Fitzgerald (1984:390) claims that in the
1960s influential Liberal MPs Kenneth
Morris and Gordon Chalk "envisaged the
Queensland coast as one long urban strip
from the Gold Coast to Cooktown."
Agitation by the Noosa Parks Association
and other groups for the extension of both
Noosa and Cooloola National Parks has
highlighted an argument of preventing
continuous strip development from the NSW
border to Hervey Bay (O'Hare 1997).
A controversial 1965 BCC decision to
convert Musgrave Park into the Queensland
Rugby Union Headquarters was reversed by
the State Government following lobbying
from the Brisbane Development Association
(BDA), "a middle-class Liberal group"
(1984:441). This group, operating as a
community organisation, continues to play
an influential role in development issues.
Other controversial conversions of parkland
to exclusive sporting use in the 1970s
attracted widespread criticism (1984:444).
Fitzgerald (1984:398-9) notes the 1970s loss
of productive agricultural land and sugar
mill viability as a result of sub/urban
encroachment in the sugar growing regions
around Cairns, Mackay, and the Gold Coast.
This conflict between urban and rural
development has intensified in the 1980s
and 1990s, for example in the rich Redlands
Shire near Brisbane. Urban expansion has
also caused conflicts with conservation
values. A proposed arterial road through a
koala habitat is widely argued to have
contributed to the demise of the Goss Labor
Government in 1996. Other urban expansion
areas causing conservation conflicts in the
1990s include Cairns' hillsides and the
Coomera area between Brisbane and the
Gold Coast.
In attempting to have subdivision developers
provide sealed roads, parkland, water,
sewerage, lighting and other urban services,
BCC met opposition from developers, the
BDA, and the coalition State Government –
on grounds of discouraging development
and encouraging council malpractice and
corruption. From 1966-68, the Council's
three most senior planners resigned,
allegedly over conflict with Lord Mayor
Jones' "heavy-handed style" and emphasis
on basic engineering rather than strategic
planning (1984:443). The revised 1969 town
33
plan was criticised for being a zoning plan
based purely on the profit motive
(1984:444).
In the last fifteen years of the 20th century,
Brisbane has again experienced leadership
by strong Lord Mayors – Sallyanne
Atkinson and Jim Soorley. The actions of
both have been related to forceful ideas of
the importance of the quality of
development to the city and state economies.
In the 1990s, the City Council has adopted a
new view of pursuing the city's
competitiveness in a global market, with
attendant notions such as "the 24 hour city"
and claims of being "Australia's most livable
city".
From 1966-71 Brisbane experienced a
building boom, a trebling of urban
investment and a population increase of 35
per cent (1984:445). During this boom
period,
"the
climatically-adapted
weatherboard on stilts [building style] was
discarded for southern-oriented 'brick and
brick veneer' by people who could afford it"
(1984:445). During the boom, the Sydneybased LJ Hooker handled the sale of up to
65 per cent of Brisbane's residential
development.
Conclusion
In
Queensland,
development
has
consistently been understood as meaning
economic and material progress. The history
of the state's evolving infrastructure,
industry, property and settlement pattern
demonstrates how a Queensland cultural
landscape has been created and transformed
by the pursuit of development at the State,
regional and local levels.
Brisbane's prestige as the state capital was
enhanced with the state government's mid1970s decision to construct the Queensland
Cultural Centre on the south bank of the
Brisbane River. The complex, comprising a
performing arts centre, Queensland Art
Gallery, Museum, State Library and
associated facilities was designed by Robin
Gibson and opened progressively in the
early 1980s. As well as 'keeping up with'
similar moves in the other state capitals, the
Cultural Centre signalled a change in the
declining fortunes of South Brisbane (see
case study).
The State Government's staging of Expo88
overrode contests over the transformation of
South Brisbane's low cost housing stock,
obsolete wharves and industrial area into a
"city of spectacle" (Hannigan 1998). World
Expos are primarily a way of attracting
international attention as a basis for
subsequent
trade
and
economic
development. In Brisbane's case, Expo88
was also significant in making interstate
Australians, and even Brisbanites, aware of
the potential of the city as a pleasant place to
live. This greater awareness of Brisbane
undoubtedly influenced the growth in
interstate
migration
to
South-East
Queensland in the early 1990s during the
nationwide recession and accompanying
deindustrialisation in Melbourne and other
southern cities.
34
References
Fitzgerald, Ross (1982), A History of Queensland from
Dreaming to 1915, Vol. 1. St Lucia: Uni. of
Queensland Press.
Fitzgerald, Ross (1984), A History of Queensland 1915 to the
1980s. St Lucia: Uni. of Queensland Press.
Hannigan, J. (1998), Fantasy City: pleasure and profit in the
postmodern metropolis, London: Routledge.
Indyk, Ivor (1994), "The lonely shores of Queensland – Thea
Astley's Coda", in Weekend Australian 26-27
Feb 1994.
O'Hare, D. (1996), "Tamborine Mountain: the relationship
between ecotourism values and cultural values
evidenced in the settlement pattern", in School
of Planning, Landscape Architecture and
Surveying (1996) Tamborine Mountain and
Ecotourism: towards a cooperative model,
unpublished research report, QUT.
O' Hare, D. (1997), "Tourism and Small Coastal Settlements:
a Cultural Landscape Approach for Urban
Design," unpublished PhD thesis, Oxford
Brooks University, Oxford, UK.
35
4
MARGINAL GROUPS
the unofficial histories
There are three major aspects to this theme revealing the marginal groups, the non-Anglo-Celtic
migration to Queensland, and the Australian South Sea Islanders. Together, these aspects
provide an history of the often forgotten members of the population within the context of the
story of the majority. Excluding the original Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, everyone in
Queensland is a migrant or came from migrant stock. Understanding the mix and cultural
backgrounds of these peoples enriches our understanding of the cultural landscape.
36
LANDSCAPE HISTORIES 4: Marginal Groups
OVERVIEW OF
MARGINAL GROUPS
IN QUEENSLAND
Aboriginal People's History in
Queensland.
The most important histories of the
Aboriginal peoples in Queensland are
waiting to be written, particularly those
histories which precede European invasion.
The overview presented here is taken from
Henry Reynold's research on the frontier
between encroaching Europeans and the
Aborigines and Bill Thorpe's sociological
analysis of colonial Queensland. Broad
contextual information is taken from Wadley
& King's Reef, Range and Red Dust (1993).
Histories about Aboriginal peoples in
Australia have shifted from a focus on
anthropological studies to documenting
conflicts and their resolution as a form of
accommodation. More recently, histories
have explored the process of dispossession.
Thorpe (1996) suggests that the history since
1788 is one of a complex interdependence of
structure and agency which involves neither
invasion/resistance nor accommodation.
Tindale's 1930s map of approximately two
hundred tribal territories in Queensland,
based on language, has been replaced by the
division of Queensland into seven cultural
areas loosely correlating with the major
drainage systems (Wadley & King 1993).
by Helen Armstrong
Histories about Queensland have tended to
centre around Anglo-Celtic colonization and
subsequent development where the use of
land and primary resources has been the
focus. This section presents a form of
unofficial history; namely an overview of
the histories of groups whose perspective of
their experiences has tended to be
marginalised. In Queensland these groups
include Aboriginal peoples, the migrants, the
South Sea Islanders (ASSI), women and
while not a human group, the environment.
The following discussion of the history of
these groups draws from a number of
existing histories, in particular the work of
Henry Reynolds (1987, 1998), Bill Thorpe
(1996), James Jupp (1988), Wadley & King
(1993), Attwood (1996) and a number of
studies on the Australian South Sea
Islanders (ASSI) including the new research
by Lincoln Hayes (1999). The role of
women in the history of Queensland is a
large study in its own right which
unfortunately is beyond the scope of this
project; whereas the history of the
environment is woven through all the
histories.
The following eras are described as a set of
themes, which will assist in enabling a
cultural landscape reading of the Aboriginal
landscape since European occupation.
Early Contact: Resistance to
Invasion (pre-1840)
This study has been broken into three
overviews, the first seen from the Aboriginal
perspective, followed by the migrants'
perspective and the ASSI perspective. The
existing histories have been reviewed and
thematic analyses have been developed
within seven chronological eras, all of which
will assist in understanding the resulting
cultural landscape of Queensland.
Establishing a Mindset of Terror
The period, 1788-1840, marks the first
resistance to European invasion. The
characteristics of this resistance mark the
continued misunderstanding between the
European and Aboriginal mind. The
European mindset was located in centuries
of territorial wars across boundaries within
Europe where conquest was accepted as the
forceful occupation of land and settlements.
European perceptions of colonial invasions
tended to conform to this model where
territory, including all forms of settlement
37
was defended and/or conquered on a
battlefront.
In Australia, the original inhabitants did not
behave in this way. First, there was no clear
indication of Aboriginal settlement as fixed
places of habitation. Second, Aboriginal
communities operated within a system of
shared resources. Initially they were willing
to share hunting grounds and water with the
newcomers on the presumption that the
Europeans would similarly accept the
Aboriginal right to some of the European
livestock. Third, there was no clear battleline, which created intense unease in the
European mind as they pushed forward
without obvious resistance and yet there was
always the hovering presence of the
Aborigine surrounding them.
for all scrub fowl, turkey eggs and a wide
variety of fruit and seeds (Thorpe 1996:36).
The Aboriginal social groups involved an
intricate web of kinship as a form of social
organisation. All these observations on
Aboriginal life are clearly those of outsiders.
Early Settlement:
The Brutal Penal Outpost
The penal settlement of Moreton Bay was
established during this period in 1824. The
settlement was renowned for the cruelty
towards convicts, thus establishing a
particular climate for social interaction
between Aborigines and whites and within
the settlement. During this period, the
Native Police force (1820s-1830s) was
established. Those Aboriginal men who
became members of the Native Police were
subject to a form of enslavement, in that
their role required a symbolic rejection by
their kinsfolk (Thorpe 1996). The Native
Police
force
continued
throughout
Queensland until the 1990s, patrolling
Brisbane River, Port Curtis and Wide Bay in
the 1840s. The Native Mounted Police Force
was considered a key instrument in crushing
Aboriginal resistance to the advancing
pioneers, acting with such brutality that it
caused growing public disquiet (Reynolds
1998).
Thus when the Aboriginal people in
Queensland assisted explorers in some cases
and attacked in other cases, Europeans
developed myths about sinister attributes of
the Aborigines. The fear of the Aboriginal
presence and the fact that they could not be
caught tended to result in severe over
reactions even when Aboriginal people were
only 'stealing' food. During this period,
terror about the Aborigines was promoted
and inflaming myths were fanned by
frontiersmen. When the Aboriginal people
gathered for feasts, the Western mind saw
this as gathering to attack. They also saw
firing of grasslands as a form of attack. The
Western mind was located in battles for
territory rather than struggles for the limited
supply of food and water.
Early Humanitarians
In the 1830s, there were a few humanitarians
who expressed concern that displacement of
Aborigines
was
not
followed
by
compensation. This was given little attention
in Queensland. In this period missionaries in
Australia were imbued with the belief in
evangelization the virtues of civilization and
saving souls (Reynolds 1998:113).
Aboriginal Life
During
this
era,
the
documented
observations of Aboriginal life were located
in the southern part of Queensland, namely
the area of first contact. At this time, the
inland tribes regularly fired the Darling
Downs to encourage grazing animals and the
coastal tribes used the prolific wildlife in the
wetlands and the sea for sustenance. Great
feasts in the Bunya Mountains were also
observed at this time. The diet before
European contact was said to consist of a
number of varieties of yam, the staple of
Cycas spp in the northern tropics, fish on the
coast, kangaroo and wallaby inland as well
Establishing the Colonial
Formation (1840s – 1850s)
Aboriginal Resistance
By the 1840s, the occupation had become
non-military, as pastoralists moved in to
establish their holdings. The Aboriginal
people now witnessed an increased number
of white occupiers spreading further inland
38
which happened to coincide with a period of
drought in the 1840s. By 1844, there was an
inevitable struggle over resources between
Aboriginal people and the pastoralists.
them so vulnerable to the enslavement of
colonized labour, was their deep attachment
to locality that prevented them from
relocating after invasion.
Colonial Social Formation
Aboriginal resistance led to extreme overreaction by the Europeans resulting in a
number of documented massacres; The
Breakfast creek massacre (1840s), the Battle
of Gladstone (1847), The Moreton Island
Killing Fields (1852) and The Hornet Bank
Massacre (1857). Apart from open conflict,
some Europeans also used poison food as a
means of exterminating the black
population, the most well documented being
the Kilroy Poisoning (1842).
The creation of the colonial society in
Queensland involved the transition from an
Aboriginal mode of production to a form of
capitalism which exploited both Aboriginal
land and their labour. Colonial capitalism
was based on three major commodities;
pastoral commodities, timber and minerals.
The colonial society was a deeply
conservative class structured society,
initially dominated by the squattocracy of
the Darling Downs, Logan and Brisbane
Valleys. This group had a far greater sway
over the class structure in Brisbane than the
squatters had over Sydney and Melbourne. It
was a Protestant dominated imperial paternal
state where profound class, status, racial and
gender divisions prevented social mobility
(Thorpe 1996). Thorpe indicates that there
were similar patterns of inequality to those
of the Ante-bellum South in North America
(1996:135). Thus in Queensland, because of
the dominance of pastoralism, squatters
occupied the highest status in a tight class
system.
The Aboriginal competition for resources
was evident in the persistent stealing of
stock and food from the settlements, as well
as the murder of shepherds in order to steal
sheep or occasional attacks on remote
settler/pastoralists.
The
pastoralists
experienced the Aboriginal resistance as
guerilla warfare.
Colonized Labour
The early relationships between Aboriginal
people and Queensland established a form of
Aboriginal labour described as 'colonized
labour' (Thorpe 1996). The particular
characteristics of this form of labour, in
particular the lack of cash payment, meant
that Aboriginal people were unable to
accumulate capital and therefore take part in
the development of Queensland.
Missionaries
The activities of the missioners followed the
establishment of the frontier. Two missions
were established near the early settlement; a
Lutheran mission at Nundah in 1838 and a
Jesuit mission on Stradbroke Island in 1843.
Both failed.
The powerlessness of colonized labour was
further exacerbated for Aboriginal people in
that their mode of production was based on
maintaining resources within the natural
environment, to be harvested on a needs
basis. The invaders gradually took over
these resources, without compensation.
Added to which the lack of commodity
production by Aboriginal people meant that
there was little available, neither cash nor
goods, to provide them with an opportunity
to compete in the capitalist mode of
production.
Negotiating an Uneasy Mutual
Dependence (1860s-1870s)
Perceptions of Aborigines (1870s)
Fear and terror about the Aborigines
persisted. The fear was heightened by the
sense of the Aborigines hovering in the
shadows, fanned by stories, thus creating a
"landscape of dread". These were projected
fears as the actual attacks and murders were
not numerous and were always related to
loss of waterholes, particularly during
Perhaps the most significant feature of
Aboriginal social formation which rendered
39
droughts (Reynolds 1987). The attack on the
Chinese goldminers at Gilberton in 1869
was an example where a prolonged dry
season prompted an attack on the outlying
camps which were traditionally Chinese.
After the attack, Gilberton was deserted, but
mainly on the basis of myths and stories.
particular, the black 'guides' and Aboriginal
land management practices. The 'guides'
may have originally volunteered their
services to be able to access white
belongings and to ensure that the whites
were guided away from sacred sites (Thorpe
1996). The Aboriginal land management
practices were skills required by the
pioneers, in particular, the Aboriginal
knowledge
of
territory
and
their
hunting/gathering skills, their keen eyesight,
their ability to cover distances on foot and
their dexterity and strength (Thorpe 1996).
The conflict was at its height during this
period because occupiers were spreading all
over Queensland. In Maryborough, fear of
Aboriginal attack was palpable because of
the dense forests and the perceived ability of
the Aborigines to retreat to Fraser Island.
This again reflects a Western mindset about
the nature of 'battle' – fighting at a front-line
and retreating to a defended fortress. Despite
the fact that the non-Aboriginal community
was heavily armed, the specific attacks by
Aborigines were not numerous. By creating
the myth of black savages with a thirst for
blood, the myth of brutal invasion could be
twisted to one where whites were peaceful
and the blacks sought conflict (Reynolds
1987).
Aboriginal Life (1870s)
By the late 1860s, as the invaders occupied
increasing areas of territory, the Aborigines
were forced to come into the pastoralist
stations because it became too difficult to
maintain their traditional hunting and
gathering lives. Again their attachment to
the locality and their complicated kinship
associated with place prevented them from
moving on. The problem of maintaining
traditional Aboriginal life was further
exacerbated by the pastoralists active
attempt to drive out the marsupials from
grazing land. Once the Aborigines came
onto the stations, often forced into colonized
labour, they were introduced into different
diets which locked them into further
dependency.
Shared Frontier
During this period, the relationship between
Aboriginal people and the invaders was
complicated. In some areas there was fear of
attack, whereas in other areas, there was a
form of symbiosis between the Aborigines
and the pastoralists. The pastoralists and
stock owners took on many of the features
of the Aboriginal world as much as the
Aborigines took on aspects of the white
world, particularly around "the masculine
business of raising cattle and droving"
(Thorpe 1996:38). From this relationship, a
rather unusual mixture of cowboy values
related to great courage, endurance,
discipline and physical stamina emerged.
Although the cattle station owners,
managers etc. were the apparent masters in
control of the situation in reality they had to
conform with Aboriginal needs for
ceremony, obligations to kin, age-old
practice of 'Dreaming' as well as Aboriginal
ways of handling stock and maintaining
property (Thorpe 1996).
Any resistance to the loss of their lands or
attempts to replace kangaroos with cattle,
was met with brutal reprisals by the Native
Police force. Horrific accounts of their
activities were recorded during the 1860s –
1870s
in
the
Maryborough
and
Rockhampton areas (Reynolds 1998:101-4).
Colonial Society
By the 1870s, colonized labour was
entrenched. Initially, this form of labour was
evident as Aborigines undertaking menial
tasks such as carrying water around
Brisbane. In the pastoral industry colonized
labour took the form of mustering, station
hands and shepherds. In the timber areas,
such as Rockhampton and Maryborough, the
Aboriginal skill of bark stripping was
harnessed to enable the construction of bark
huts, especially the roofs, in the settlement.
The black frontier embodied knowledge and
skills needed by white pioneers, in
40
By the 1870s, however, non-Aboriginal
indentured labour was used extensively in
the highly localised and intensive work
associated with the coastal canefields. As a
result coastal Aboriginal groups were further
marginalised.
Aboriginal Life (1880s)
The Aboriginal people were equally and
more justifiably afraid of the whites. In the
1890s, the Cape York Peninsula Aborigines
were terrified of the white occupiers which
entrenched black submission and white
subservience. During the 1880s, the
Europeans undertook massive slaughter of
indigenous fauna especially kangaroos,
possums and dingoes, which inevitably
impacted heavily on Aboriginal traditional
life. This added to the extensive tree clearing
and excessive use of water resulted in
significant changes to the way the
Aborigines accommodated to the white
presence. In settled areas, because of their
strong attachment to their land and the
erosion of their livelihood, Aboriginal
groups formed permanent camps around the
edges of towns. On pastoral stations both
Aboriginal men and women were exploited
as colonized labour. A 1900 survey showed
that Aboriginal people in South West
Queensland were living on stations in
squalor and fear (Thorpe 1996).
Other changes to Aboriginal life were
occurring as a result of mineral exploitation,
initially gold and later tin.
The social structure of non-Aboriginal
society continued to be dominated by a
deeply conservative and strong class
structure. Rockhampton at this time was the
second largest town, even though it
consisted of huts and 'humpies' built from
ironbark supplied by Aboriginal timbergetters.
Missionaries & Humanitarians (1870s)
By the late 1870s, missionaries and
humanitarians were expressing their concern
about the brutality of the Queensland
frontier in terms of occupying Aboriginal
land and enslaving Aboriginal people
(Reynolds 1998:106). At this stage a few
missions were established such as
Bridgeman's reserve near Mackay in 1871.
There was poor financial and political
support for them, as a result they were
disbanded by 1885.
Disturbing the Land Surface:
Mining
(1880s – 1910)
Mining the Landscape
The impact of gold mining at Palmer River
and its resultant destruction of the land and
water has not been documented from an
Aboriginal perspective, however it was
known that there was at least fourteen years
of constant conflict with Aboriginal people
around the Palmer gold fields. By 1888,
when most of the gold was exhausted, the
local clans were 'let in' to the settlement.
Reynolds (1987:66) provides an evocative
description of the first party of 25 tribal
elders walking down Maytown's dusty
streets with acute anxiety. Mary Graham's
(1999) description of the custodial role in
relation to land begs the question of how
Aboriginal tribes around the Palmer
goldfields experienced the destruction of
their landscape.
Perceptions of the Aborigines
The tradition of violence towards the
Aborigines was more deeply rooted in the
second half of the 19th century. The further
north the invaders went, the European
mindset became increasingly hostile towards
Aboriginal people (Reynolds 1987, 1998,
Thorpe 1996). This was compounded by the
consolidation of the earlier settlements into
towns. The blacks were still seen as
treacherous and cunning because of their
particular form of resistance. In the 1880s,
the embedded fear was most obvious in
North Queensland where much of the
conflict was now occurring. The Cooktown
whites were documented as wanting to
exterminate the 'natives' (Thorpe 1996). In
other areas an uneasy co-existence had
emerged.
The story of tin mining in the Annan River
area of Cape York Peninsula, however,
appears to be quite different. This is the
41
territory of he Kuku-Nyunkul people. The
anthropologist, Anderson (1983), describes
the impact of tin mining on these people
from 1885 to 1940. Anderson maintains that
the Aborigines flourished during this period
because of the particular form of tin mining
that is small in scale and relatively
permanent. This enabled Aborigines to
establish long term, firm social relations
with particular Europeans and to be in some
control over the nature of the social and
economic interactions. Although the reasons
the Kuku-Nyunkul people became involved
in this enterprise were most likely related to
the loss of traditional land and the
introduction of meat and flour to the
Aboriginal diet by the miners, nevertheless,
there was some tendency towards a more
egalitarian
social
structure
(Thorpe
1996:35).
Protection Act to be passed in 1897
(Reynolds 1998:108-138).
The humanitarian agenda proposed by
Meston, namely to provide refuges for
Aboriginal people, was subverted by this
Act which resulted in the forcible removal of
Aboriginal people onto three government
reserves, Barambah (now Cherbourg), Palm
Island and Woorabinda (Blake 1996,
Reynolds 1987,1998, Thorpe, 1996).
Consolidation of Non-Aboriginal
Occupancy (1890s – 1940s)
Aboriginal Life
During this period, the "Colonial-Aboriginal
War" (Thorpe 1996:184) was over. The
dispossessed survivors now existed in the
landscape as refugees, either staying close to
their own country and kin as town 'fringe
dwellers' or as deportees to missions or as
continued colonized labour on stations or as
incarcerated victims within various state
institutions. Between 1911-1940, at least
6000 Aborigines were removed to the three
government reserves (Wadley & King
1993).
Humanitarians and Missionaries
(1880 – 1910)
During the 1980s, the church began to
establish mission stations to assist the
Aborigines; Hopevale in 1885, Bloomfield
River in 1886 and Mapoon and Yarrabah in
1891. Despite the humanitarian intentions,
they were poorly funded, as a result the
Aborigines on the missions were gradually
exploited in numerous ways, including the
introduction of opium, by the pearl fishing
industry and surrounding pastoralist. By
1895, the Meston Inquiry recommended the
missions be closed and that new reserves be
created which recognised Aboriginal
territories.
Humanitarians and Missionaries
By the 1930s there was much missionary
agitation and many calls for reform by
humanitarians. Missions at this time were
highly authoritarian, separating parents from
children. Rudimentary schools were attached
to some missions. The growth of social
anthropology in the 1930s resulted in
concern about Aboriginal people being
expressed in an international arena with
some reformers calling for assistance from
the League of Nations (Reynolds 1987). The
heightened public awareness resulted in
separate schools being established for
children living in the fringe camps at
Gayndah and Mitchell (Blake 1996:98).
There was intense humanitarian activity
about the plight of the Aborigines during
this period which was met with equally
intense opposition in Queensland. The
weekly newspaper, The Queenslander, led a
crusade against the brutality towards
Aborigines in Queensland, particularly at the
hands of the Native Police force. The
weekly published a collection of articles and
letters as The Way We Civilise, which the
used to lobby for a Royal commission into
the Native Police force. Although this was
not successful, there was enough concern
outside Queensland for the Aboriginal
White Society: Colonialism to
Federation
The Aboriginal plight was set against
particular political and economic attitudes.
The 'rulers' of colonial Queensland were still
based on a certain squattocracy consisting of
42
a few families and their network, members
of whom became powerful capitalistpoliticians, establishing the colonial
forerunners of the mid 20th century
conservative capitalist political life (Thorpe
1996). This resulted in a form of Queensland
sectionalism which Thorpe (1996:197)
equate with the slave holding South in North
America. By the late 19th century,
Queensland was dominated by two
ideological positions both of which hinged
on racialism. The dominant and most
powerful position was held by the employers
of quasi slaves, colonized labour and the
rural proletarians, that is the squatters and
planters who controlled the huge pastoral
holdings of the interior and the sugar
producing belt along the Queensland coast.
The other group were the growing number
of Anglo-Celtic Queenslanders who were
workers seeking to drive out the Chinese and
Pacific Islander labour and to create
legislation that would permanently separate
Aborigines from Non-Aborigines. This was
yet another variation on White Supremacy
this time including non-Anglo migrants in
the racist agenda (Thorpe 1996).
The history of the Non–Anglo migrant
groups will be considered in the next
section.
References
Anderson, C. (1983),"Aborigines and Tin Mining in North
Queensland". Mankind. 13.(6). 473-497.
Attwood, B (ed) (1996), In the Age of Mabo. Sydney: Allen
& Unwin.
Blake, T. (1996), "Queensland Cultural Heritage Context
Study," A Report for the Cultural Heritage
Branch, Department of Environment.
Graham, M 1999. Seminar at QUT
Reynolds, H 1987. Frontier. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Reynolds, H 1998. This Whispering in our Hearts. Sydney:
Allen & Unwin.
Thorpe, B 1996. Colonial Queensland. St Lucia, Queensland:
University of Queensland Press.
Wadley, David and W. Bill King (1993), Reef, Range and
Red Dust: The Adventure Atlas of Queensland.
Brisbane: Department of Lands, Queensland
Government
43
European nation states also provided an
incentive
for
emigration.
Emerging
industrial capitalism required free and
mobile labour and a self sufficient trading
system where the industrial base was in
Europe and the market and source of
supplies was in the colonies. As a result, the
New World was seen as a place where
enterprising people could create new lives
(Murphy 1993).
MIGRATION TO
QUEENSLAND:
politics of race and class
by Helen Armstrong
The Migrant – A Queensland
Essential
In terms of understanding the migrant
landscape, it is important to look at why
North America was the preferred choice for
the many emigrants from Britain and
Europe. Freemann and Jupp (1992) suggest
that there were five main reasons why
emigrants, particularly those from Europe,
selected North America over Australia.
• First, it was closer.
• Second, it had a history of immigration
from the early 17th century, thus for
emigrants there was a known European
presence in the new land.
• Third, because of the general
productivity of the land, there was an
opportunity for small landholdings
which enabled continuity of European
land husbandry traditions.
• Fourth, by the 19th century there was a
well
developed
agricultural
and
industrial economy in North America
which guaranteed employment for
immigrants.
• Fifth, the ideological construct of the
American society had great appeal and
ensured that there would be no
restrictions on the basis of race or
religion.
Queensland epitomises the Anglo-Celtic
migration project in Australia. The
historians, Jupp (1988) and Murphy (1993),
point out that immigration has been an
integral feature of Australian life since first
occupation by Europeans because the
colonisers needed a workforce. Although
emigrants flocked from Europe to the New
World, Australia was not a common
destination. Murphy (1993) describes how
the need for a workforce prompted many
discussions
about
possible
black
"indentured" labour or indentured Chinese
labour. It was only in Queensland that this
occurred because in the rest of Australia the
general sentiment was against slavery or
variations of it. Instead the workforce was
supplied by immigration.
Historical perspectives (Jupp et al 1988,
Murphy 1993) indicate that the reasons for
modern international migration reflect the
history of modern capitalism whose seeds lie
in the 17th century discovery of the New
World; an event which prompted European
nations to incorporate vast new lands and
their associated wealth into their empires.
This could only be achieved, however, by
the emigration of potential settlers who
would develop and manage the colonies
under the tight control of European nation
states. Murphy (1993) suggests the fact that
so many people emigrated from Europe
during the 19th century, approximately 65
million, is an indication of the extent of the
crisis in Europe which had resulted from
demographic changes in 18th century.
Freeman and Jupp (1992) propose that
concurrent with the demographic crises, the
19th century development of industrialised
Migration to Australia differed in all of these
five points.
• First, the distance from Europe was vast
and intimidating.
• Second, European occupation was
recent, as a result very little was known
about the new colony.
• Third, productivity from the land was
difficult resulting in a relatively small
number of very large, privately owned
holdings. This meant that there was little
44
opportunity for the Old World tradition
of small farms owned by individuals.
• Fourth, during the 19th century the
economy was based on primary
production and resource exploitation,
which, in the main, provided only
manual employment opportunities for
immigrants.
• Fifth, the colony was British and as
Murphy (1993) points out, there was a
clear preference for white British
immigrants in the belief that that this
would encourage the development of a
'culturally superior' colony.
Clearly the differences between North
America and Australia have spatial
implications which have affected the
migrant cultural landscape in each country.
cultural systems which often precede the
formation of a nation. This was particularly
true for the colonial enterprise. Initially the
migrant settler in the New World could only
occupy 'marginal space' because the
'national space' was always in Europe. The
European 'national space', however, changed
as the sense of nationalism in the different
nation states grew. Emerging European
nationalism was often associated with a
willingness to get rid of unwanted groups
such as the demobilised soldiers from the
Napoleonic Wars, criminals, religious
dissidents, and the Jewish people. One
effective means of achieving this was to
encourage emigration. Over time there was
an equal growth in nationalism in New
World countries, such as North America and
Australia. Nationalism in North America
was underpinned by a willingness to accept
all newcomers; an ideology which was seen
as a "shining beacon of democracy"
(Freeman and Jupp 1992:15). In Australia,
the 'national space' was exclusive. Migrants
were only acceptable if they had the capacity
to be absorbed into the British based AngloCeltic culture and all migrants were
expected to relinquish their former cultural
practices. In contrast to the United States,
the long domination of the Anglo-Irish
resulted in an Australian society which was
exceptionally homogeneous. Again this was
exemplified in Queensland. Bhabha (1990)
provides a post colonial argument which
could explain the Australian situation when
he points out that controlling minority space
[in this case the space of non-British
migrants] prevents interference in the
modernist project of progress within an
homogeneous 'deep nation'. He suggest this
is seen "to justify and validate authoritarian
and normalizing tendencies within cultures
in the name of national interest" (1990:4).
Queensland exemplified the highly selective
concept of 'national space' which was
embodied in the policy known as 'White
Australia.'
Frontier Space to National Space
There were two significant spatial outcomes
of migration to North America and Australia
in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The first
of these outcomes was the notion of frontier
societies and their associated sense of
infinite space, that is 'frontier space'. In
North America, this perception gradually
receded as the settlers occupied the whole
continent, forming dispersed close knit
settlements. Freeman and Jupp consider
'frontier space' in North America was "an
egalitarian force" (1992:12). In contrast, the
concept of 'frontier space' in Australian was
the 'interior' which was both forbidding and
apparently unprofitable. Australian 'frontier
space' tended to foster conflict and social
divisions because few people had vast land
holdings which inevitably created a stratified
society. This was particularly true for
Queensland whose pastoral holdings
exemplified 'frontier space'.
The second significant outcome was the
concept of New World 'national space' and
again there were strong contrasts between
North America and Australia. Homi
Bhabha’s (1991) ideas of 'national space'
suggest that social realities of nations, in
other words conceptions of national identity,
are not necessarily the certainties presented
in some histories. Instead he suggests they
are transitional and responsive to the larger
The Cultural Landscape of White
Australia
Freeman and Jupp point out that the 19th
century "proletarianization of the rural
45
population" (1992:12) resulted in working
class solidarity in the Australian colonies.
This led to a complex relationship between
the cohesion of Australian labour
movements and immigration policies. In
Queensland this did not become apparent
until 1900, because of the power of the
squattocracy and their exploitative labour
policies during the 19th century. The bone
of contention by 1901, when the separate
colonies became a federated nation, related
to the Chinese migrants who had arrived in
the 1850s to work the gold fields. The
Chinese migrants were predominantly male,
diligent and kept to themselves. This was
threatening to the Australian labour
movement, particularly as the Chinese were
seen as culturally isolationist and willing to
work for low wages.
protectionism. There was also distinct
racism associated with these issues; in
particular a desire to keep out Asians,
Africans and Pacific Islanders.
This brief historical overview sets the
context for the migration profile of
Queensland preceding the post World War II
period.
Queensland Migration Profile
(1838-1945)
Migration to Queensland exemplifies all the
issues already discussed. The early British
migrant occupiers grabbed vast tracts of land
and established a squattocracy which, up to
1901, determined the migration policies. The
desire for migrants was directly related to
the need for a workforce. The workforce,
however, had to deal with two vastly
different situations, either labouring for
pastoralists in the remote harsh dry inland or
labouring for plantation owners in the labour
intensive canefields on the hot tropical coast.
Neither circumstance attracted the type of
workforce that met the criteria for
membership to the 'national space', namely
white Britons. As a result, colonized
Aboriginal labour was used by the
pastoralists and, until 1900, indentured
labour from the Pacific Islands was used by
the planters.
Thus it was a racist agenda rather than
independence from Britain that was
characteristic of the climate immediately
preceding the federation of separate colonial
States into one Australian nation. This
resulted in intense debates about the profile
of the new nation. Again Bhabha's (1990)
insights into the concept of 'nation' provide
explanations for the policies developed at
the birth of the Australian nation. He
suggests the language and rhetoric about
'nation' indicate certain constructed fields of
meaning and their symbols. In this case, it
resulted in 'White Australia' where the most
popular symbol for the new national identity
was the 'Australian Briton' (Murphy
1993:28). Ironically, in the end, intractable
dissension related to continuing State
loyalties resulted in the British monarchy
providing the only form of cohesion. This
inevitably undermined any emerging sense
of nationhood. As a result the new
parliament did not open with a coherent
national sentiment, and 'White Australia'
seemed a panacea for many unresolved
issues. Another factor emerging at this time
was the alarm in Britain at the awakening of
Asia; a phenomenon which had the potential
to challenge European world supremacy. As
a result when the new parliament debated
about immigration – one of their earliest
debates – the agenda was caught up in the
sensitive issues of defence as well as labour
Migration to Queensland was not only
dominated by the squattocracy, the
government established active policies to
encourage British migrants from the 1850s
on, through the Queensland Immigration Act
of 1862. As a result the overwhelming
profile of migrants were from England,
Ireland and Scotland.
There were a few non-British European
groups, in particular the Germans and the
Scandinavians. German missionaries were
the first to arrive in 1838, establishing a
Lutheran mission at Nundah. They were
followed later by pioneer German farmers
who established close knit communities in
Logan Valley, Albert and the Darling
Downs in 1861. The Scandinavians,
predominantly Danes, arrived in the 1870s
46
and settled in the South East-Brisbane,
Maryborough, and Bundaberg.
Post World War II Migration
Once again Australia was not the first choice
for British migrants, most going to United
States or Canada The government, already
heavily committed to the new industrial
projects and fuelled by post war rhetoric of
'populate or perish', opened the possibility of
accepting migrants from the Mediterranean
countries and Northern Europe. Within the
context of 'White Australia' this was
obviously contentious so the government
reassured the Australian voters that such
Non English Speaking migrants would
become 'Australian' under the policy of
'Assimilation'. To achieve this policy no
provisions for housing were made on the
assumption that migrants would be absorbed
into the suburbs, thus aiding their
assimilation. A well meaning, but naïve and
uninformed, volunteer organisation, known
as the 'Good Neighbour Movement', would
facilitate this process (Murphy 1993). The
very policies aimed at ensuring that the nonBritish migrants blended into Australian
cities resulted in isolating migrants into
perceived enclaves even though they were
living beside Australians. In Queensland this
was evident in West End in Brisbane.
Apart from the British, the other major
migrant groups in the 19th century were the
Chinese and the South Sea Islanders. The
Chinese migration pattern directly related to
the discovery of gold in the Palmer River
area in 1861. The initial group, mostly
coming from the southern gold fields
numbered about 500 but by 1877, at least
15,000 Chinese were working on the Palmer
goldfields. As the gold was exhausted, many
of the Chinese moved back south or returned
to China. Those who remained settled on the
far north coast, Townsville and Cooktown.
They established market gardens or had
small holdings which grew cash crops of
banana, sugarcane or maize. By the 1901,
with the advent of the White Australia
policy, few Chinese were able to enter
Queensland.
The South Sea Islanders were indentured
labourers so their status as migrants was less
clear. After the introduction of the White
Australia Policy, this group were forcibly
repatriated. Their history is covered more
fully by Lincoln Hayes in the third section
of the Unofficial History.
White Australia to White Nation:
the Cultural Landscape of
Assimilation.
In the early 20th century, Italian migrants
settled in Queensland. In 1925, about 2000
Italians bought cane farms in the northern
sugar district and by 1933, 30% of the
Italians in Australia were living in
Queensland, either on the cane farms or as
orchardists in the South at Stanthope. There
were also some Italian migrants involved in
the tobacco farming at Inglewood. The
Italians in Queensland were interned during
World War II at Gaythorne.
The history of migration from 1945 to the
present is driven by three distinct phases in
government migration policies. The first
phase, known as the Period of Assimilation,
extended from 1947 to 1964. Subsequent
phases were known as Integrationism (19641972) and Multiculturalism (1973-present).
Most migrants coming to Queensland
entered Australia in Sydney and Melbourne.
In the period between 1947-1965 migrants
arrived by ship so the wharves in major
cities were the places redolent with
memories of arriving in a strange place,
being greeted by little known relatives or
migrant agents, and being subjected to the
procedures which determined where
migrants would go after arrival.
Another European group who came to
Queensland in the early 20th century were
the Maltese. The major migration
programme after World War II in
Queensland did not have the same impact as
it did in other states.
47
Jordens (1995), Jupp (1992) and Murphy
(1993) document the history of this period,
which was characterised by migrants being
taken to 'reception centres' to be processed
and in many cases dispersed to sites of
employment related to the new industries.
Refugees and non-British migrants were
required to work for two years in places
nominated by the government. Many were
sent to the Snowy Mountain Hydroelectricity Scheme. Other Europeans were
sent to major industrial centres such as
remote cities containing iron-ore mines or
coastal steel mills and ports.
government officials became aware that
their policies were considered anachronistic
and inappropriate. Migration practice
throughout the world in the 1960s was one
which acknowledged diversity; whereas
Australia was widely known for its
discriminatory 'White Australia Policy'. This
particularly acted against Australia's desire
to forge links with Asia. In this light,
Australia clearly needed to revise the
immigration policy which meant better
services for migrants on arrival and
broadening of the notion of who were
acceptable
migrants.
'Integrationism'
resulted in Australia accepted immigrants
from Lebanon and Turkey as well as India,
Malaysia, China and South America (Jupp,
1988, Murphy 1993).
The Cultural Landscape of the
Period of Integration (1964-1972)
By the mid 1960s, there were problems with
the 'assimilationist' policies. The migrant
project was certainly building Australia's
industrial
strength
and
providing
employment. To that extent the project was
successful. But the desire to make migrants
into Australians who would be absorbed into
the fabric of Australian society was not
working. This was less relevant in
Queensland where the bulk of the migrants
were British.
During this period, Brisbane attracted a
small number of non-British migrants. By
the mid 1960s, mainstream Australians were
ready to accept the presence of non-British
migrants and to accept evidence of different
cultural practices. Such cautious acceptance
of the migrant presence while maintaining
the 'Australian way of life', continued until
1972 when Australia moved into a third set
of migration policies known as the 'Period of
Multiculturalism'.
Because migrants had been brought in to
work in industry with no provision for
housing and minimal provision for English
tuition, it was inevitable that immigrant
enclaves formed around industrial areas and
in inner city areas where housing was cheap.
Such enclaves had particularities which,
while bearing all the hallmarks of
marginality, were different to the concept of
ghettos in Europe and North America. Jupp
et al (1990) describe these places as zones of
transition.
The Cultural Landscape of
Multiculturalism (1972-1995)
It took until 1970 for the Australian Labour
Party (ALP) to realise that working class
solidarity existed just as strongly in migrants
of non English speaking background as it
did amongst 'white' Australians. The ALP
set about to woo the migrant vote and their
success in the 1972 elections was in part
attributable to this vote (Jordens 1995, Jupp
1992, Murphy 1993). In 1973, along with
the change in government there was also a
major global change resulting from the
recession in world trade following the slump
in oil prices. As well the plight of refugees
from Lebanon and Vietnam had to be
addressed. This was to have a marked
impact on immigration issues in Australia.
Firstly it brought to an end the economic
boom which had been the rationale for the
immigration policy and secondly Australia
Concern about migrant discontent prompted
new policies about migration which came
under the umbrella of 'Integrationism'. By
the early 1960s the Australian government
was competing with other counties for
immigrants. As a result they were forced to
consider migrants from areas previously
excluded because of perceived difficulties in
assimilation. In the process of negotiating on
a world stage for immigrants, the Australian
48
accepted its obligation to take in refugees
from Asia and Lebanon. In Queensland,
Brisbane absorbed the influx of Vietnamese.
Migrant Landscapes and Place
Attachment
The environmental psychologist Low
(Altman & Low 1992), suggests that where
place attachment occurs, there is a symbolic
relationship between a particular group and
the place. This attachment may be evoked
by a culturally valued experience, but it may
also derive meaning from other sociopolitical and cultural sources; all of which is
pertinent to migrant place attachment.
In 1984 Australia went into a minor
recession during which the Great
Immigration Debate started, fuelled by the
historian, Geoffrey Blainey, and his rhetoric
about the Asianisation of Australia.
Although Blainey appeared to get public
support which prompted the government to
cut funding to immigrant groups and abolish
the Australian Institute of Multicultural
Affairs, it was a misreading of Australian
public sentiment. As a result a number of
marginal seats in the larger cities were
threatened. The government responded
rapidly by establishing the Office of
Multicultural Affairs and the National
Agenda for Multicultural Australia; such
was the change in Australian cultural values.
In 1996, with another change in government,
the policies changed. Again migration issues
were conflated with unemployment issues.
In Queensland, migration became the key
focus of a new party, the One Nation Party,
with an explicitly racist platform.
Low proposes a typology of cultural place
attachment which she has derived from six
symbolic linkages of people to the land;
genealogical, loss, economic, cosmological,
pilgrimage and narrative.
Table 1
Symbolic Linkages of People and Land.
Source: Altman & Low 1992:166
1.
2.
3.
Bhabha in his study on Nation and Narration
(1990) also explores these issues where they
are related to marginal groups and notions of
nation. He speaks of the counter narratives
of nation which destabilise the "ideological
manoeuvres through which 'imagined
communities'
are
given
essentialist
identities" (1990:298). In Australia such
essentialist identities are evident in
revitalised Chinatowns. Kay Anderson
provides an interesting analysis of the
background to Brisbane's Chinatown in the
late 1980s in her study on Invented Places
(Anderson & Gale 1993).
4.
5.
6.
Genealogical linkage to the land through
history and family linkage,
Linkage through loss of land or destruction
of continuity,
Economic linkage to land through
ownership, inheritance and politics,
Cosmological linkage through religious,
spiritual or mythological relationships,
Linkage through secular pilgrimage and
celebratory cultural events,
Narrative linkage through storytelling and
place-naming.
Low states that along with the six symbolic
linkages, there is a process of place
attachment which occurs by living in a
place. Genealogical attachment to place and
loss of place are mutually dependent for
migrants, particularly migrants who have
come from traditional peasant communities
where the family relationship to place has
been established for centuries. Often the
place attachment is so strong that people
from the same village aggregate together in
the new country as is the case with some
Italian migrant groups in Australia.
Thus the history of Queensland migration
policies have resulted in non-British
migrants being marginal groups with the
associated predictable spatial outcomes. In
the late 20th century, however, post colonial
and post modern theories of marginality
highlight the shift in perceptions of
marginality and difference. There is a
growing wish to understand the way
migrants value their cultural landscape.
Low's concept of 'cosmological' attachment
to place has been explored in depth by
Norberg-Schulz (1980) in his study on
49
Genius Loci: Towards the Phenomenology
of Architecture. Greenbie (1981) in his
study, Spaces, also explores sacred places
and their meanings. Migrants have great
difficulty in reconciling the cosmological
aspects of myth and symbol of place in the
host country. Although the Asian practice of
Feng Shui has been brought to the new
countries together with shrines and sacred
plants which are incorporated into houses,
the profound attachment of place and its
mythology remains in the original country.
Instead rituals associated with worship,
festivals and other ceremonies, although
carried out in public places in a similar
manner to the country of origin, develop
more of a 'secular' and 'narrative' form of
place attachment. Low's 'economic', 'secular'
and 'narrative' linkages are all very strong in
migrant places but they are not necessarily
known about outside the migrant
community. Such lack of knowledge often
results in planning decisions which are
insensitive to cultural difference or merely
examples of stereotyped ethnicity.
The concept that migrant places could
include humiliating work places challenges
the notion that migrant places are only
represented by 'exotic' food and customs.
Summary
This brief overview of issues related to
interpreting the cultural landscape of
migration in Queensland shows the
importance of understanding the unofficial
history, that is the history that has not been
documented because of the marginal status
of the groups. The third group to be
considered in this history, the Australian
South Sea Islanders is presented by both
Lincoln Hayes as a cultural landscape
analysis and Walter Baker, as a broad
overview.
More recent work on place attachment has
been published by Dolores Hayden in her
book The Power of Place (1995). She
highlights the role that public space can play
in cultural identity and how urban
landscapes are "storehouses of social
memories". For Hayden, the power of place
means the "power of ordinary landscapes to
nurture citizen's public memories" (1995:9).
She points out that in an ethnically diverse
city such as Los Angeles, race, gender and
neighbourhood are poorly represented as
reasons for preservation of the built
environment. She argues for the rights of
minority groups to be represented in the
urban built environment in the form of
public history or urban preservation. Hayden
broadens the notion of place attachment to
include those places associated with pain
and humiliation. She point out that "coming
to terms with ethnic history in the landscape
requires engaging with bitter experiences, as
well as the indifference and denial
surrounding them" (1995:22).
In Queensland many of the migrant places
are associated with difficult experiences.
50
References
Altman, I & Low, S 1992. Place Attachment. Plenum Press:
New York.
Anderson, K. & Gale, F. (eds) 1992. Inventing Places:
Studies in Cultural Geography. Longman
Cheshire: Melbourne.
Anderson, K 1993 "Otherness, Culture and Capital:
'Chinatown's' Transformation Under Australia's
Multiculturalism" in Clark, G.L., Forbes, D.,
Francis, R. (eds). Multiculturalism, Difference
and Postmodernism. Longman Cheshire:
Melbourne. pp.68-90.
Bhabha, Homi K. "DissemiNation: time, narrative, and the
margins of the modern nation" in Bhabha,
H.K.(ed). (1990) Nation and Narration.
Routledge: London. pp. 291-323.
Freeman, G. & Jupp, J. (eds) 1992. Nations of Immigrants.
Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
Hayden, D 1995. The Power of Place. MIT Press:
Cambridge, Mass.
Jordens, A 1995. Redefining Australians. Hale & Iremonger:
Sydney.
Jupp, J. (ed) 1988. The Australian People. Angus &
Robertson: Sydney.
Jupp, J 1992. "Immigrant Settlement Policy in Australia" in
Freeman, G. & Jupp, J. (eds) Nations of
Immigrants.
Oxford
University
Press:
Melbourne.
Jupp, J 1996. Understanding Australian Multiculturalism.
AGPS: Canberra.
Low, S.M 1992. "Place Attachment in the Plaza" in Place
Attachment. Plenum: US.
Morse, J.M 1994. Critical Issues in Qualitative Research
Methods. Sage: California.
Murphy, B 1993. The Other Australia. Cambridge University
Press: U.K.
Norberg-Schulz, C 1980. Genius Loci: Towards a
Phenomenology of Architecture. London:
Academy Editions.
51
The description of the traffic has been well
documented
by
missionaries
and
abolitionists. The excesses committed by the
less scrupulous recruiters of labour was
described as 'blackbirding' which was
essentially a form of kidnapping.
"Blackbirding was as full of horrors, of
brutalities, of tragedies as was the African
slave trade" (Dunbabin 1935). The Islanders
fought back in defence of their homes and
people and the horrors and brutalities have
been recorded on both sides which means
that a continuing difficulty exists in any
attempt to unravel fact from fiction. Some of
the historical sources are clearly unreliable
(Moore 1985) and clearly misleading. For
example, Dunbabin (1935) asserts that "The
blackbirding done in Australia itself was
mainly concerned with women." This is not
the case as women were seldom recruited
and formed a small percentage of the total
population recruited from the islands
(Edmondson 1984; Moore 1985). The
recruitment of labour from the Pacific
Islands became better regulated with
government intervention in the 1890s and
major reforms were implemented relating to
contracts and conditions of employment
(Edmondson 1984). Nonetheless ,these legal
safeguards were in many cases insufficient
to protect the South Sea Islander population
from maltreatment and discrimination.
BRIEF HISTORY OF
SOUTH SEA
ISLANDERS IN
QUEENSLAND
by Walter Baker
The recruitment of South Sea Islanders (SSI)
for the Queensland sugar trade lasted from
1863 to 1904. The Islanders were called
'Kanakas' and the term is still used although
it is now considered to be insulting and
derogatory. Kanaka is a Melanesian word
for 'Man' and was applied by Europeans to
the inhabitants of Melanesia. It does not
identify people from a particular island. The
descendants of this original population
prefer to be called Australian South Sea
Islanders, mainly to distinguish themselves
from recent immigrants and to reinforce
their status as a separate and identifiable
minority group in Australia.
The recruitment of SSI labour is frequently
referred to and described as a 'slave trade'
with comparisons made between the
conditions and practice of the African slave
trade in The US and the Caribbean. The
legal position of South Sea Islands workers
in Queensland was that of indentured
labourers and this situation has been
forcefully argued by Moore (1985 ) and
fully discussed by Saunders (1974). The
institution of chattel slavery was neither
developed nor implemented and South Sea
Islanders were never legally slaves to be
bought and sold . Nevertheless, regardless of
the legal status SSI describe themselves as
having been brought to Queensland as slaves
and see themselves as the descendants of
slaves. Slavery is to be seen in this context
as an extra-legal concept embracing (in
some cases) the forceful removal of people
from their homes , arbitrary arrest and
punishment and the forceful prevention of
the right of assembly, all of which occurred
during the years when labour was procured
from the islands.
There was unscrupulous evasion of the
provisions of the Act by recruiters and
others; and savage and sanguinary
retaliation by Pacific islanders was
frequent; atrocity was countered by
atrocity .
(Cilento & Lack, 1959) The authors contend
however that South Sea Island labour in
Queensland was treated with a "benevolent
feudalism".
Post recruitment difficulties
The recruitment of indentured labour from
the South Sea Islands was prohibited in 1890
but continued until 1904 due to the fact the
sugar cane farmers could not work the land
without a source of cheap labour. The period
was marked by considerable unrest and deep
political divisions between the sugar mill
owners who wanted a source of labour and a
52
body of opinion that wanted a white colony.
The SSI though never more than 5% of the
total Queensland population (Graves 1993)
were a visible and vocal group demanding
better pay and conditions of work. In this
they were hampered due to the legal position
as they were administered under the Masters
and Servants act of 1881 which prohibited
individual or collective action to improve
their working conditions. In theory ,this
legislation protected workers from the
wilder excesses of employers through
legally stipulated conditions of service. In
fact their hands were tied.
of people who were used as slaves and
discarded
without
recognition
or
compensation.
Population
There are a number of difficulties in
interpreting the statistics relating to the SSI
population in Queensland. These difficulties
are fully discussed in Cane and Labour
(Graves 1993). The total population brought
to Queensland is estimated at 62,000. The
peak being 12,000 in 1883 when they
formed about 5% of the Queensland
population. In 1907 with the effect of
repatriation the population was estimated as
1568 making up 0.29% of the Queensland
population. There are several reasons set out
by Graves (1993) for questioning these
figures. Firstly the mortality figures are
inaccurate since deaths were not always
reported. Secondly the children of South Sea
islanders were not officially recorded as
"Polynesians." Another factor in the underreporting of South Sea Islanders in
Queensland is due to the fact that they
migrated to other parts of Australia which
was not permitted under the terms of their
indenture and so was not reported.
The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880
was continually amended to restrict the
occupational improvement of South Sea
islanders. They were forbidden to work as
blacksmiths, carpenters or mechanics and
could only work as labourers in the sugar
industry. There were also restrictions on
their freedom of movement and it was
forbidden to change work at will. Employers
were heavily fined for any breach of these
regulations and the smaller cane farmers
resorted to hiding South Sea Islander
workers by day and putting them to work at
night.
Relatively few women were recruited from
the islands and by the time that deportation
ceased in 1908 the number deported was
42609 under the Pacific Island Labourers
Act (Mercer 1995). The present population
of some 20,000 must have resulted from
marriages between SSI and Aboriginal and
other groups.
The present population of 20,000 in
Queensland is concentrated in Mackay,
Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Ayr.
Recruitment officially ceased in 1904 under
the Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1901.
All islanders who were left by 31st
December 1906 were liable to be deported
with the exception of children born in
Australia and a group of "Ticket Holders"
who were exempt on grounds of long
residence in Queensland. Opposition to this
act was extensive and sustained and the act
was amended to prevent the deportation of
the old, married couples, land owners and
residents of twenty years (Pacific Island
Labourers Amendment Act). The effect of
this change in the legislation allowed a
sufficient number of SSI to remain in
Queensland as a small but identifiable
minority.
Present Position
There is no doubt that the Australian South
Sea Islanders are a group much
discriminated
against
and
their
disadvantages are measured and recorded
below levels of deprivation that exists in
other Australian communities. Their claims
for government assistance as a minority
group with special needs are valid. Moore
(1985) argues that their treatment after
deportation was worse than before and
The deportation of the SSI is the only
instance in which a migrant group has been
deported from Australia and is yet another
example in which Australian South Sea
Islanders see themselves as the descendants
53
concludes that "Australia’s immigrant
Melanesians certainly have a valid case in
claiming redress from the government." A
Departmental Committee report in 1977
concluded that the social and economic
status and conditions of the South Sea
Islanders are generally below that of the
white community. Conditions have not
improved for the South Sea Islanders. A
report by the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission in 1992 found no
improvement on the conditions that existed
in 1977. The Islanders were found to be
disadvantaged
by
every
index
of
measurement These included housing,
education, health and employment
All the recommendations in the report were
supported and accepted by Government
(Hansard 25th August 1994). These covered
access to social and educational programmes
with specific budgetary allocations for
schemes for cultural development and
community programmes.
Identity and Recognition
The present Australian South Sea Islander
population of Queensland are a racially
diverse group with some 47% having only
one parent from the South Sea Islands.
Islanders with an Aboriginal ancestor
account for just under half of the population
with other significant groups being Torres
Strait islanders and non-Melanesians who
had married into the community. This mixed
ancestry gave rise to a situation of choice
and also one of conflict. Many ASSI, while
acknowledging their aboriginality, have no
wish to deny their SSI identity. South Sea
Islander culture and heritage was maintained
over the years and remained strong
supported by this rich ancestral mix. The
Islanders did not lose the strong bonds of
family connections and included outsiders
into their communities. They are also aware
of their contribution to the sugar industry of
Queensland and would like to se this
contribution acknowledged and recorded.
To this end the Human Rights report of 1992
was of crucial importance. The principal
recommendation that "The Government
should formally recognise Australian South
Sea Islanders as a unique minority group
which is severely disadvantaged as a
consequence of racial discrimination" was
supported and further recognised Australian
South Sea Islanders as a distinct ethnic
group in Australia with its own history and
culture.
54
Islands labour trade", Lectures on North
Queensland
History,
No.4,
pp. 73-95.
References and Notes
Statistical information and background notes
were obtained from "THE CALL FOR
RECOGNITION ; A report on the situation
of Australian South Sea Islanders." Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
15th December 1992. This report was
published in 1993 as Parliamentary paper
No. 26. It was tabled in August 1994.
The recommendations and discussion are in
Hansard of that date.
FUSSELL, J. (1903), A Kanaka slave: A story of the early
Queensland labour traffic, A.H. Stockwell
London
HARVEY,
T. (1872), The Polynesian slave
McCorquodale & Co., Leeds, UK.
trade,
GRAVES A. (1933), Cane and labour: The political economy
of the Queensland sugar industry 1862-1906,
Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh
MERCER, P.M. (1992), White Australia defied, James Cook
University, Townsville
MOORE ,C. (1985), Kanaka: A History of Melanesian
Mackay, University PNG Press
QUEENSLAND STATUTES
The Masters and Servants act of 1861
The Kidnapping act of 1872
The Pacific Island Labourers Act of 1880
and subsequent amendments
SAUNDERS, K.E. (1974), "Uncertain Bondage: An analysis
of indentured labour in Queensland to 1907."
Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of
Queensland, Department of Anthropology and
Sociology.
CILENTO, R. & C. LACK (1959), Triumph in the tropics:
An historical sketch of Queensland, Smith &
Patterson, Brisbane.
DUNBABIN, T. (1935), Slavers of the South Seas,
[publisher] Sydney; Australia
EDMONDSON, C. (1984), "The diaries of S.M. Smith,
Government agent : a new light on the Pacific
55
CULTURAL
LANDSCAPES OF THE
AUSTRALIAN SOUTH
SEA ISLANDERS:
an indicative list of
place types in the
historic environment.
By Lincoln T. Hayes
(Australian Heritage Commission and James
Cook University of North Queensland)
The contribution of Australian South Sea
Islanders to the establishment of one of
Australia's great industries cannot be
overestimated. Over 60,000 people, mostly
from Melanesia, were brought to
Queensland to clear the land, plant and cut
sugar cane. While most returned home
(never quite the same) to their Islands and
their kin, and many died, significant
numbers stayed on in Australia and
established lives and homes for themselves.
Today their descendants exceed 20,000,
forming a significant component of
Queensland sugar town populations.
This paper examines the relationships that
Australian South Sea Islander people, often
known as Kanakas, have had with their
physical environment. It explores actual and
potential ways in which their lives in
Australia have effected a cultural landscape
that reflects both their Melanesian ancestry
and their status as some of Queensland's
earliest and most praiseworthy pioneers.
After a brief contextual history of the
Islanders in Australia, I will present an
indicative (but not exhaustive) list of place
types that might be seen as readily
identifiable signatures of the South Sea
Islanders' cultural landscape.
Sugar
The Queensland sugar industry developed,
in part, as a response to the fledgling
colony's need tap the wealth that potentially
sprang from its extensive tropical
environment. In the early 1860s cotton was
trialed, but it was Claudius Whish's first
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 4: Marginal Groups
commercial sugar crop at Ormiston that
proved a significant breakthrough. By the
early 1870s, development of sugar land was
watched with anticipation, as plantations
rapidly sprang up and the Queensland
population headed north.
While in 1867 only 6 small plantation mills
had been established, by the end of 1874
there were 71 mills (Graves 1979:12). The
opening up of sugar lands also brought
increased settlement to areas north of
Rockhampton, which had previously seen
few Europeans. By 1871 Mackay alone was
producing over a third of the colony's sugar
(Graves 1993:13) and plantation related
settlements had been established as far north
as Cardwell and the Lower Herbert.
Sugar planters in Queensland in the 1860s
and 1870s had little conception of a
commercially viable sugar industry away
from the plantation. This was partly due to
the influence of ex-planters from places like
Barbados and Mauritius (Moore 1975). A
majority of the Queensland planters were the
progeny of wealthy Brits or Scots, but their
sole experience of sugar production was
from books and journals describing slave
plantations from places like Louisiana and
Jamaica.
Thus, the 1860s-1870s model of the sugar
plantation was a labour intensive one. In
order to return a profit, each plantation
required a good and plentiful supply of
cheap, servile labour. Europeans would not
undertake hard manual labour in the tropics,
a reluctance influenced by contemporary
medical opinions. These opinions, combined
with popular racial theories, predicated that
this servile labour force should be black.
The Labour Trade
Initial inquiries about recruiting coolies were
met with a flat refusal from the Indian
protectorate. In response, Logan cotton
planter Robert Towns decided to import
South Sea Islanders to work at his estate. His
first group, recruited from the New Hebrides
(Vanuatu) in 1863, proved such a success
that other planters were soon requesting
Islanders for themselves. As Queensland's
cotton industry dissolved, the value of South
52
Sea Islanders had already become apparent
to a number of other industries, the most
important of which was sugar.
Much has been written and spoken of the
Queensland Labour Trade (see eg.
Holthouse 1969; Moore 1981, 1992; Munro
1995), and there can be no doubt that grave
atrocities were committed in the process of
recruiting Pacific Islanders. Many academic
historians (eg Corris 1973; Moore 1981)
have suggested, however, that despite early
phases of kidnapping and violence, the
Trade was, on the whole, voluntary and
peaceful. Many Australian South Sea
Islanders, however, make claims to the
contrary, suggesting that a great number of
their ancestors were tricked, kidnapped and
even enslaved (see Moore 1981). What is
clear is that Australian South Sea Islanders
feel excluded from the standard narrative of
their
history,
and
are
therefore
disenfranchised through the history-telling
process. This feeling bears very heavily on
today's Islander community and, along with
other perceived injustices of the past,
conditions their sense of identity and
belonging in Australian society.
Plantation Life
A majority of the Islanders who came to
Queensland, up until the 1890s, worked on
sugar plantations. Each was assigned to a
plantation for three years, after which they
could re-sign with a plantation or small
farm, or go home. Most decided to return
after three or six years, but many (for
various reasons) stayed, and built lives for
themselves in Queensland.
Plantation work was very physical. The
division of labour was generally based on
race, with "kanaka labour" being reserved
for Islanders, generally the most physical
unskilled work like land clearance, planting
and cutting cane. The days were long and
work performance was closely monitored by
overseers and drivers (Moore 1985,
Saunders 1982 and Graves 1993 provide
excellent overviews of material life on the
plantations).
Accommodation and food on plantations
were highly variable from place to place.
Some planters took their responsibilities
seriously and provided plentiful food and
good accommodation. Others provided a
bare minimum of rations and left the
labourers to construct their own houses. It is
somewhat ironic, then, that the Islanders
themselves chose to grow their own food,
and construct their own grass huts, primarily
out of preference (see Moore 1985).
As the sugar industry developed, into the
1890s, conditions gradually improved for
the
Islanders.
Plantations
became
increasingly obsolete, being replaced by a
system of large central mills being supplied
by small farms around the district (see
Griggs 1997).
"Time expired" workers were Islanders who
had completed a three year contract and
were then able to negotiate their terms of
service with their new employers. This
usually meant better wages and shorter
terms of service, because of their reputation
as quality labourers (Shlomowitz 1985).
Many became accustomed to the
Queensland lifestyle and began building
lives for themselves around the sugar
districts. At the same time, however, there
were agitations in the wider community to
eradicate their presence.
The Queensland government had attempted
several times to cease the importation of
Islanders, ultimately relenting under
pressure from sugar producers. After
Federation, however, the decision was taken
out of their hands and, under the White
Australia policy, the Islanders were
deported. After much agitation the
deportation order was relaxed slightly, and
some were allowed to stay, mostly those
who had been in Australia for 20 years or
more. In 1908 the deportations were
enforced and all were sent back, excepting
around 1000, and another 1000 who Moore
(1985) estimates absconded and stayed
illegally.
Amid union policies preventing Islanders
from becoming ticket-holders, and the
arrival (from the 1890s) of Italian and
Maltese labourers, the Australian sugar
industry was soon proclaiming itself a
"whites only" enterprise, and the South Sea
53
Islanders were quickly forgotten. Unable to
work in the sugar industry, and squeezed out
by other professions, Islander families
survived using the technologies taught to
them in their island homes to build houses
and plant gardens. They survived on
subsistence agriculture and earned what
money they could doing odd jobs and
cutting cane illegally (see Mercer 1995,
Fatnowna
1989).
Unwanted
and
unrecognised by the Australian government,
they established families and settlements,
and most importantly, they survived.
The cultural landscapes of the
South Sea Islanders
This contextual history was designed to
provide a backdrop for our understanding of
the ways in which the Australian South Sea
Islanders have impacted on and shaped the
Queensland landscape, particularly in the
1863-1940 period. There are many (such as
Balanzategui 1995) who have suggested that
all traces of those first Islanders have long
since disappeared. Much to the contrary,
however, the traces are there, but they are
probably much more noticeable when one
examines the historic landscape in an
informed manner.
The remainder of this paper will address the
different types of signatures that South Sea
Islanders have left on the cultural landscape,
based on information derived from history,
photographs, oral history and archaeological
research conducted on sugar plantations in
north Queensland (Hayes forthcoming).
Wreck sites: blackbirding ships
While the definition of cultural landscape
might be stretched somewhat by the
inclusion of the reefs and waters off the
Queensland coast, the sheer number of
shipwrecks surrounding the Great Barrier
Reef begs consideration. The discovery of
the Foam on Myrmidon Reef near
Townsville demonstrates the value of
wrecked
recruiting
ships
to
our
understanding of the Islanders' experience in
Queensland.
Loaded
with
returning
labourers and their trade goods, the Foam
provides insight into various aspects of
recruitment and the types of cultural
materials that were preferred by the
Islanders (Gesner 1991). As Gesner (1991)
suggests, a significant number of recruiting
ships, some of them blackbirders, were
wrecked out there somewhere, up to half a
dozen of them just off the Queensland coast.
In this respect, then, the experience of the
South Sea Islanders is not only part of our
cultural landscape, it is also submerged on
our reefs and in our waters.
Conceivably, this significance also extends
to the docks and wharves of Queensland
ports like Townsville, Maryborough,
Mackay and Lucinda: the places where
thousands of new Islander recruits were
landed, examined and assigned to
employers. The docks at Cairns are also
significant to the Islanders, being the
location of traumatic deportations in 1908.
Plantation sites
There were over 150 operational sugar
plantations in Queensland at various times
between 1863 and 1900. Each plantation
held great tracts of land – somewhere
between 1500-6000 acres – of which
between 10% and 50% was under
cultivation at any given time. Almost
without exception each plantation had its
own sugar mill, giant (although not by
today's standards) brick and iron industrial
structures with towering chimneys.
Sugar plantations had a major impact on
Queensland's environment in the 19th
Century. In many areas, the establishment of
a plantation was the first significant
permanent European presence. Especially in
northern Queensland, the plantation districts
were frontiers.
For plantation production, large-scale
clearance, often thousands of acres, effected
by Pacific Islanders. Cane fields were
planted, tended and harvested by Islanders.
In fact, much of the land that is today used
by cane farmers was initially cleared by
Islanders.
The physical remnants of the 19th Century
sugar industry are rapidly disappearing. New
lands are needed for cultivation, and so
much of the industry's heritage is being
ploughed out or cleared. What does remain,
54
on first appearances, is that which is not
easily cleared: mill sites, with their heavy
concrete and brick foundations, and other
more formal structures. While South Sea
Islanders, by the very nature of their
employment, may claim such remnants as
their heritage, there are other, more subtle,
traces of their contributions to the plantation
landscape to be found.
While formal barracks and houses were
provided for the Islanders on the plantations,
they were generally detested, and many
chose to construct their own houses, with
which they were more familiar and
comfortable. These houses were timber
framed, and usually thatched with panels of
loya cane, blady grass and sago palm (see
Downes 1993), comprising a variety of
styles, derived from all over Vanuatu and
the Solomon Islands. Due to the perishable
nature of the building materials and the
decaying effects of tropical weather, none of
these structures are expected to have
survived. Using archaeological techniques,
however, it may be possible to detect the
presence of these structures and reconstruct,
to some extent, the type of existence that
was lived inside them. Evidence of grass
houses was found recently at the site of
Seaforth plantation, near Ayr, in the form of
artifact encrusted earth mounds, possibly
created by the gradual decomposition of the
huts (Hayes forthcoming).
Another noticeable trace left by Islanders on
the plantations is from the plants that they
cultivated. While the diet provided by
planters could be good or bad, depending on
the plantation, most Islanders detested the
overemphasis on meat and bread, preferring
instead their own tubers (taro and yam) and
fruit, with small amounts of protein. In
response, they planted their own gardens,
using species in Australia that were familiar
to them and importing those they could not
get (see Moore 1985). Planters were usually
happy to allow them to use plantation land
for their gardens, and many also planted
fruit trees and food and medicinal plants
around their houses. While many of these
gardens have now disappeared and are most
likely under cane, there are traces of them
that can still be found on old plantation
lands, usually in the form of wild remnants
and surviving mango, guava and coconut
trees. The most common place to find these
is adjacent to rivers, creeks and swamps,
where the water intensive taro was usually
grown. Remnant trees are also common in
and around the sites of old habitation or
barracks sites on the plantation lands.
Similar evidence of Islander activities
should also be found on the sites of 19th
century farms.
Dwelling sites (pre/post 1900)
In the 19th Century a majority of Islanders
were
provided
accommodation
or
accommodation space on the plantations
where they worked. For workers who
became free of any direct obligations to
particular employers, the option to build
one's dwelling elsewhere was often popular.
Despite the growing wealth in some sectors
of the Islander population, however, they
were legally prevented from obtaining
freehold land, and were forced to squat on
crown or private lands.
After the deportations, the Islanders allowed
to stay were left with no employment and no
ready place of accommodation. Many
benefited from the benevolence of
landowners sympathetic to their cause, who
allowed them to establish homes on their
lands rent-free. Others were forced to create
homes and settlements in the bush, down by
the creeks, gullies and swamps surrounding
Queensland sugar towns. With little income
and little aid from the mainstream
community, homes and settlements were
created with whatever materials, innovations
and traditional knowledge the Islanders
could muster.
They established houses and gardens in
these anonymous parts of the Queensland
environment and many of them stayed in
such circumstances until the 1940s and later.
In many districts, large groups of Islanders,
usually sharing common ethnicity or
kinship,
gathered
and
established
settlements, such as those at "The Gardens"
in Halifax, and on Plantation Creek in Ayr
(Mercer 1995).
55
The remains of these settlements are still
evident in many places. Islander habitation
sites are generally simple to recognise, by
their choice of location (near creeks,
swamps) and the vegetation that surrounds
them. The remnant gardens are especially
diagnostic of Melanesian presence, which
will be discussed below. Dwelling sites may
also contain significant archaeological
remains both above and below the surface.
Gardens
In Melanesia, gardening is traditionally of
paramount importance: it is more than a
question of subsistence, it is a mark of
cultural
existence.
For
Melanesian
Australians, too, gardening was as much
about cultural survival as physical survival
(Hayes forthcoming). Noah Sabbo, an elder
of the Islander community in Mackay
summarised the situation in a recent
documentary:
Being
agricultural
people,
those
Kanakas... they tried to revive it over
here, working in the soil, planting the
gardens, and it doesn’t become old with
them, you know, it doesn’t become old
hat with them – every day they were
there. The Kanakas they lived well along
here [the creeks and gullies], they could
fish in this creek here and [had] two large
fig trees here. And they had coconut trees
too, along here, so it reminded them of
where they came from, the habitat, and
this is why they liked to come here, you
know.
(Noah Sabbo, in Sugar Slaves, Film Australia 1995).
In their gardens were a great variety of
fruits, vegetables, legumes and herbs, most
of which were tried and tested Melanesian
staples. Some, however, they acquired
knowledge of from Aborigines, while they
had gained a taste for others from
Europeans. The most important elements of
the Islanders' food plant roster were the
starchy tubers: yam and taro. Preference for
one over the other of these depended greatly
on the individual's island of origin. In
addition to yam and taro, food plants like
cassava, sweet potato, coconut, banana,
guava and mango were grown. Medicinal
and ritual plants were also essential
components of the garden (Mercer and
Moore 1976).
Mango trees in particular were an important
species for Australian South Sea Islanders,
despite their relative insignificance in
traditional Melanesian agriculture. If it were
possible to pinpoint one specific landscape
element that is definitive of the Australian
South Sea Islanders in north Queensland it
would be the mango tree. South Sea Islander
habitation sites, with very few exceptions,
all have very strong spatial relationships
with deliberately planted mango trees. The
oral testimony of Islander descendants often
emphasises the importance of these
relationships. Fatnowna (1989:110), for
example, wistfully recalls how the first thing
his father did when establishing their family
home was to plant a mango tree. Certainly,
while the integrity of garden remnants can
often be lost over time, mango trees (and to
a lesser extent figs and coconuts) are
obvious and very durable reminders of the
past presence and activities of an Australian
South Sea Islander family.
Burials and cemeteries
The disposal of the dead in the Australian
South Sea Islander community, as it is in
traditional Melanesian societies, is an
intensely personal and private business.
Many of those who died on plantations and
farms presumably lie buried anonymously
beneath the canefields or deep in the bush.
Traditional burial practices in Melanesia
vary greatly, and it would be difficult to
characterise these, especially in relation to
the Australian Islanders. Many today still
know the location of their ancestors' burials,
and that many of them were buried in
traditional ways. Substantial research,
conducted with considerable sensitivity,
would be needed for a greater understanding
of these matters.
While many were buried anonymously
during the plantation period, towards the end
of the 19th Century they were buried more
in formal cemeteries, either the plantation's
own or the town cemetery. Most, however,
were buried in the heathen section, even
though by this time many had become
Christians. These cemeteries are, today, a
focus for South Sea Islanders' recognition of
their ancestors. One community in
56
Bundaberg is undertaking a cemetery
restoration project there, attempting to create
an appropriate memorial to their forebears
(Sugar Slaves, Film Australia 1995).
Large scale landscape features
A number of larger historic features on the
Queensland landscape are the result of work
carried out by South Sea Islanders last
Century. One such feature is the Sugar
Wagon
Trail
at
Yeppoon,
near
Rockhampton. The trail is part of a stonepitched road created by Islanders for the
Farnborough sugar plantation, to allow
wagons to carry sugar to the coast for
export. Originally over 40km, the trail today
consists of just over 1km, but represents a
substantial achievement by the Islander
workforce. It is also an important focus for
remembrance, because a number of people
died in the course of its construction. A
similar track can be found at Habana, near
Mackay.
Another significant landscape feature is the
stone walling which, although once quite
common, is becoming increasingly rare due
to destruction. Stone walls can be found in
the Bundaberg, Maryborough and Mackay
districts, where natural stone littered the preEuropean landscape. When plantations were
first established, Islanders were set to work
clearing the land of stones, which they
transformed into terraces and boundary
walls. One such wall, at Mon Repos in
Bundaberg, is in the Register of the National
Estate. Many others, however, are
increasingly under threat from cane farmers
wishing to increase their cultivation space.
Sacred/ceremonial places
Like traditional burials, the presence of
South Sea Islander ceremonial places is
uncertain. Mercer and Moore (1976) studied
the retention of traditional magico-religious
practices among the community and came
up with some significant results. One of the
most profound of their discoveries was the
presence of at least two Tarunga huts or
Haus Tamarans in the Mackay district.
These huts were the venue for many of the
traditional ritual practices of the Islander
community. While the location of such huts
is kept secret, it is not known if any such
huts (including any outside the Mackay
district) are still in existence or use. It is
likely that they were once quite common,
and may have been significant components
of the Islanders' cultural landscape.
Myth/folklore sites
It is known, from the oral testimony of
Islander descendants, that, despite living in
Australia and many of them adopting
Christianity,
ritual
practices
and
mythological beliefs were frequently
maintained. In traditional Melanesian
folklore, the activities of ancestral spirits,
ghosts and tricksters play a significant role
in restricting and informing human
behaviour. Places become attributed to
specific spirits, bringing warnings to the
living from the dead, and these places
become regarded by the community places
as tambu or forbidden. One such place is a
large fig tree that overhangs the road from
Mackay to Habana. Fatnowna (1989) tells
the story of this tree, commonly known as
the Devil tree, and his excruciating fear of it
as a child. It is likely that many such places
exist in the folklore of the Islanders. These
may become more evident as the
contemporary
South
Sea
Islander
community becomes better understood.
While the list of site types I have discussed
above cannot be exhaustive, it does provide
a solid foundation for a characterisation and
a general understanding of the cultural
landscape of the Australian South Sea
Islanders. In many ways it is a discrete
landscape, which might easily be overlooked
if one was not deliberately searching for it.
With a degree of informed insight, however,
a landscape is revealed that tells the story of
a community that is (and has been) at once
marginal and thriving. While the Islanders
have not stamped their presence on the
landscape with massive structures and largescale manipulation of the environment, there
is nonetheless quite a unique and distinctive
character in the way that they have used the
world around them for the means of both
physical and cultural survival.
57
REFERENCES:
Balanzetagui, Bianka Vidonja. 1995. "The material aspects of
the tropical north Queensland sugar cane
industry, 1872-1955." M.Litt. Thesis, Material
Culture Unit, James Cook University.
Corris, Peter. 1973. Passage Port and Plantation: a history of
Solomon Islands Labour recruiting 1870-1914.
Melbourne, Melbourne University Press.
Downes, Elizabeth. 1993. "South Sea Islander Material
Culture 1920-1950." Unpublished M.Litt. thesis,
Material Culture Unit, James Cook University.
Fatnowna, Noel. 1989. Fragments of a Lost Heritage.
Sydney, Angus and Robertson.
Film Australia. 1995. Sugar Slaves.
Gesner, Peter. 1991. A maritime archaeological approach to
the Queensland labour trade. Bulletin of the
Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology
15(2):15-20.
Graves, Adrian. 1979. "Pacific Island labour in the
Queensland sugar industry, 1862 - 1906."
Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Oxford.
Graves, Adrian. 1993. Cane and Labour: the political
economy of the Queensland sugar industry,
1862-1906. Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh
Press.
Griggs, Peter 1997. The origins and early development of the
small cane farming system in Queensland,
1870-1915. Journal of Historical Geography
23(1):46-61.
Hayes,
Lincoln. forthcoming. "Pacific Islanders on
Queensland
Plantations:
archaeological
landscapes of power and survival in the 19th
Century." Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. James
Cook University.
Holthouse, Hector. 1969. Cannibal Cargoes. Adelaide, Rigby.
Mercer, Patricia M.1995. White Australia Defied: Pacific
Islander settlement in North Queensland.
Townsville, Department of History & Politics,
James Cook University.
Mercer, Patricia M., and Clive Moore. 1976. "Melanesians
and the retention of indigenous religious and
magical practices." Journal of Pacific History
11:66-88.
58
Section 2
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS
The interpretation of cultural landscapes, that is how people are aware or understand their
surrounding environment, is the subject of this second section of the thematic study. A review
of related sources revealed a wide band of theoretical approaches to this subject, including the
scientific methods of environmental psychology, various art and design theories, traditional
historical analysis of evidence, and phenomenology, to name a few. This range of viewpoints,
essentially directed at the same scene (human/environment relationships), presents a rich
mixture of possible interpretations. It is suggested that the amalgam of these viewpoints tells a
truer, more revealing story than any one approach. The following three chapters about
Landscape Awareness deal with Perception, People and Landscape (in Australia and
Queensland in particular) and Interpreting the Landscapes as Text.
59
5
PERCEPTION
perceiving is more than seeing
There are several ways to consider perception and the landscape. This chapter presents a
selection of ideas from numerous authors from several disciplines, across time. These topics
include scientific approaches towards perception of self and one's place in the world, the
influence of traditional art and design theories and geographical approaches, and local personal
observations about perception coloured by world outlooks. The arrangement of these topics are
thus:
• environmental psychology – perception and cognition
• determining landscape character (introducing some existing regional classifications)
• the physical landscapes of Queensland (geographical descriptions)
• landscape design theory (useful for designing and understanding landscapes)
• traditional visual analysis (the basis of art and design)
• landscape meaning (messages, intentions, and landscape values) from a range of sources
from built environment theorists to traditional historiographers.
Taken together, these different approaches to understanding Queensland's cultural landscapes
provide a rich mixture of possible interpretations.
Several papers in this section were deliberately left as notes for this report because they were
used by the research team for Contested Terrains in that form and proved readily accessible and
understandable. Other papers were extracted from doctoral theses in progress (in 1999) and
provided the latest analysis of theory as well as raw data gathered on topics related to Contested
Terrains research. These proved equally valuable in their developed academic written form. The
third type of paper was an analytical summary of particular historical works on Queensland,
which added yet another layer of interpretation to the field of perceiving Queensland's
landscapes. The perception section of this report was the work of several contributors as noted.
Our understanding of perceiving the landscape in past (and present) times is focussed often on
photographic or artistic images, taken from a vantage point, and composed into a picturesque
view. A deeper and more relevant understanding requires us to seek further: why this view,
what did it meant then (and now), what other ways are landscapes imagined, and so on. The
following discussion provides some valuable background material to help that process of
enriching landscape interpretation.
60
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5: Environmental Psychology
these influences, however, that only
addresses some of the controlling aspects.
Gifford (1996:22-24) identified three major
sorts of influential factors:
• Personal Influences – perceptual
ability, sex [gender], education or
training, experience with setting,
whether the person likes the setting
• Cultural Influences – Example: The
rainforest-dwelling
pygmy
has
problems with size consistency because
they have no experience with distance
vision [Comment – surely this is an
environmental
(determinism)
influence?]
• Physical Influences – the actual
character of place being perceived;
what makes a place fell enclosed?
Walls? Ceilings? Both? ; perceptual
illusions in natural settings (viewing
through fog, water, 'terrestrial saucer
effect' (neighbouring mountains as tall
as one on).
However, from a non-scientific point of
view and with the experience of an artist,
there are other possible physical influences.
There are landscape artists' techniques of
seeing/interpreting landscape: such as the
knowledge of perspective (with vanishing
points of parallel lines); of using lighter
backgrounds and darker foregrounds to
augment the sense of distance and threedimensional effect; or understanding colour
variation (atmospheric influences: pink
sunsets due to smog, yellow sunlight at
dawn/dusk), and so on.
Some of the major theories that have
been developed to explain environmental
perception include: James J. Gibson's
Affordances; Daniel Berlyne's Collative
Properties; Phenomenology; and, Egon
Brunswick's Probabilistic Functionalism
(Gifford 1996:24-31). Briefly, the theory of
Affordances contends that the world is
made up of substances (such as clay, steel,
glass) and surfaces (such as floors, walls,
ceilings) and these are arranged in layouts
and these provide affordances (instantly
detectable functions). The theory of
Collative Properties involve characteristics
of stimulus that cause the perceiver to pay
attention, investigate further, and compare.
It staddles both perception and cognition
areas. It has two psychological dimesions:
PERCEPTION
AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Notes by Jeannie Sim
As part of the multi-layered approach to
understanding
Queensland's
cultural
landscape through time, several research
paradigms were consulted for their
interpretation. The first paradigm discussed
has substantially evolved through scientific
method. Environmental psychology defines
environmental perception and its related
phenomenon, cognition, thus:
Environmental Perception is the
gathering of information. We are
primarily
visual
beings,
but
environmental perception includes the
ways an means by which we collect
information through all our senses…
[environmental cognition] includes
spatial cognition – the manner in which
we process, store and recall information
about locations and arrangements of
places – and broader thinking about
environments, beyond their spatial aspects
(Gifford (1996:17).
Some
of
the
commonly
used
ENVIRONMENTAL
PERCEPTION
research methods include:
1. Self-report methods – what did you see
(or hear, smell, touch, taste)?
2. Time Sampling – a form of selfreporting, at specified intervals
3. Behaviour-inference method – used in
galleries/museums: how long spent in
front of a painting?
4. Psychophysical method (magnitude
estimations
–
'power
functions'
equations)
5. Phenomenological approach – when the
researcher is the perceiver.
Employing multiple methods is preferred to
help overcome the weaknesses of each
(Gifford 1996:21).
Influencing the perception and
cognition of any perceiver are various
factors. In non-scientific language, the term
'cultural baggage' has been used to describe
61
hedonic tone (beauty or pleasure) and
uncertainty arousal and also involves
fittingness or how well a certain element (a
house) suits a certain setting (wilderness).
Phenomenology involves self-reporting to
try and overcome or erase the distinction
between setting and perceiver; to
qualitatively understand the unique and
holistic meaning of place rather than
resorting to external ideas or theories.
Probabilistic Functionalism is best
described diagrammatically (Figure 4).
Gifford (1996:25) explanation includes:
•
•
•
Qualities of the setting itself are not
perceived directly; rather, they are
manifested in distal cues (objectively
measurable characteristics of the setting).
Proximal cues are the observer's
subjective impressions of these distal
cues. Perceived beauty is based on the
observer's interpretation of the proximal
cues. Perceived beauty will closely
approximate actual beauty (i.e., there will
be a high achievement) if (a) actual
beauty really is manifested in distal cues
(i.e., there is high ecological validity), (b)
proximal cues are closely related to distal
cues, and (c) proximal cues are closely
related to judge beauty (i.e., observers
have excellent cues utilization).
•
•
ENVIRONMENTAL COGNITION was
described by Gifford (1996:29-30) as having
several qualities, including:
• Spatial cognition (to 'wayfind' i.e.,
successfully navigate in an environment)
which incorporates the concept of
cognitive maps
• Nonspatial environmental cognition
which includes memory and mental
models of hazards, etc.
• You are not a camera! Human
processing is full of errors and humans
are different – between individuals and
from reality (even so our imperfect
images are useful).
• Kevin Lynch's [speculative] ideas about
'LEGIBILITY' (paths, edges, districts,
nodes and landmarks) is another attempt
to understand human cognition however,
"without much formal research".
Researchers
have
identified
several
influences on spatial cognition:
• Stage in Life: "Piagetan" Model Of
Children's Spatial Cognition – toddler
(egocentric), child (projective stage then
62
abstract stage); characteristics of the
elderly (1) spatial abilities decline, while
some do not, & some improve (2) older
individuals think about space differently
than younger individuals (they may
perform better in familiar/meaningful
settings), etc.
Spatial Ability
Familiarity or Experience, with time to
develop more accurate mental maps of
settings
Sex [gender], some evidence of women
find wayfinding in new settings more
difficult (thougth there is contradictory
evidence here)
Spatial-Cognitive Biases: cognitive
maps do not match cartographic maps,
erring in 3 predictable ways:
(1) Euclidean – gridlike concept of
world, easier to understand;
(2) superordinate-scale – which is
further North… (false logic); and,
(3) segmentation biases – distance
judgements… parts mean more than
whole.
Physical Influences:
(a) urban spatial cognition, as Lynch &
Donald Appleyard predicted, greater
organization improved speed and
reduced errors;
(b) building-scale spatial cognition
where 4 factors play:
(1) signs and numbering systems
(2) visibility of the destination and
views to outdoors
(3) differentiation (the
distinctiveness of different parts
of the building)
(4) configuration (the overall layout
of the building).
Of course this knowledge of human
tendencies can be used for a negative
effect: some people want wayfinding to
be awful/difficult, such as shopping
centre owners and designers (for impulse
buying) and maze-makers (for puzzle
entertainment) (Gifford 1996: 32-37).
Quality To Be Judged: BEAUTY
The setting
Selected Distal
itself
Cues
Selected
Proximal Cues
The Setting
Judged
Number
of Trees
ACTUAL
BEAUTY
Colour
of Water
UNDISTURBED
Amount
of Litter
POLLUTED
Height of
Mountain
STRIKING
Sandiness of
Beach
COMFORTABLE
Number
of People
CROWDED
PERCEIVED
BEAUTY
Achievement
FIGURE 4 : Brunswick's Lens Model applied to Environmental Perception.
Other Scientific Approaches
References:
The preceding outline of some of the matters
involved in environmental perception and
cognition (which mostly use scientific
quantitative research methods) are especially
interesting when compared with the later
discussion on the nature of meaning,
substantially a qualitative research area.
Gifford,
Robert (1996), Environmental Psychology,
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Heath, Tom (1989), Introduction to Design Theory, Brisbane,
Qld: QUT publication.
Heath's authorities:
Alexander, Christopher (1964, 1974), Notes on the Synthesis
of Form, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Arnheim, Rudolf (1966), Toward a Psychology of Art,
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
However, further basic information about
scientific approaches to explaining visual
perception and preferences were located in
preliminary design theory references. Table
2 is a summary of one section of the first
year undergraduate built environment design
lecture notes prepared by Professor Tom
Heath in 1989 on the topic of 'aesthetics'. A
selection of the authorities Heath cites is
listed below under references.
[As see Arnheim, Rudolf (1967), Art and Visual Perception:
a psychology of the creative eye, London: Faber
and Faber.]
Humphrey,
N.K. (1973), "The Illusion
Perception, Vol 2, pp. 429-439.
of
Beauty",
Jones, J. Christopher (1970), Design Methods: Seeds of
Human Futures, London: Wiley-Inter Science.
Kaplan, S and R. Kaplan (1982), Cognition and Environment,
New York: Praeger.
Murdoch, George Peter (1960), "How Culture Changes", In
Shapiro, H.L. (ed) (1960), Man, Culture and
Society, New York: Oxford University Press.
Zeisel, John (1981), Inquiry by Design, Monteray, CA:
Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.
63
Table 2: AESTHETICS (based on Tom Heath's Design Notes 1989)
WHAT IS AESTHETICS?
DEFINITIONS:
"aesthetic Adjective. 1. Relating to the
sense of the beautiful or the science of
aesthetics.
2. Having a sense of the beautiful;
characterised by a love of beauty. [Gk.
aisthetikos perceptive] "
"aesthetics Noun. 1. Philosophy the
science which deduces from nature
and taste the rules and principles of
art; the theory of fine arts; the science
of the beautiful, or that branch of
philosophy which deals with its
principles or effects; the doctrines of
taste…"
POPULAR TASTE etc.
People like things because they are
likeable [!] It's all a matter of taste[?]
What about people's likings or
preferences differing? Due to…
(1) psychological differences:
•
introverts: high level of arousal
avoid stimulation
•
extroverts: low level of arousal seek stimulation
(2) physiological differences:
•
available/working senses e.g.
colour blindness
•
age ie. perceptual/info.
processing capacities
(3) mostly due to LEARNING [+
experience] (learned likes…)
TYPES OF LEARNING
CULTURAL LEARNING:
"A culture consists of habits or
tendencies to act shared by members
of a society or social group." (Murdock
1956) … these habits are learned... not
very strong limitations because of
'cultural borrowing' … "the main cause
of social change"
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING:
the selection
depends on:
•
chance
•
persuasion
•
choice
of
possibilities…
LIKEABLE QUALITIES
perhaps the 2 most important are
ORDER & VARIETY.
"ORDER is the quality of containing
relatively little information."
"VARIETY is the quality of containing a
lot of information."
Contrary but true… WHY?
•
an Evolutionary Explanation
•
a Psychological Explanation
(1) Evolutionary explanation
about order & variety
Order is rewarding… we need it... "We
may be sure that any animal which
could not or did not classify things
effectively … would not have a chance
of surviving for long." (Humphrey
1973). Variety is also rewarding… it
creates an opportunity to learn… we
need that too… [adaptation to change
helps animals to survive]
(2) Psychological Explanation
AROUSAL There is NO 'ideal' level
of arousal…
•
extremely low levels of arousal
= unpleasant ('sensory deprivation')
•
low levels of arousal
= tends to go to sleep
•
intermediate levels
= something interesting
•
very high levels of arousal = also
unpleasant ('sensory overload')
Arousal varies with amount & intensity
of stimulation
ART & SPORT are both human
creations that produce pleasurable
changes in arousal. "In sport, order
(the rules) is mingled with an element
of chance (variety)." + " In
representational art, order (form) is
given some content (what is
represented). In decorative and
abstract art purely perceptual order
and variety are manipulated."
"… since art and sport serve
essentially the same ends, those who
are interested in one are often
uninterested in the other."
PERCEPTION & COGNITION
"PERCEPTION is not a passive but an
active process. We construct the world
we experience, and we construct it
according to rules which are common
to all people, because they are 'wired'
into the brain. Perceptual order and
variety are thus relatively reliable
bases on which to design." AND …
"schemata are the basis for
COGNITION… schemata may vary
considerably between cultures, and to
some extent between individuals…
Cognitive order and variety are
somewhat less reliable bases on which
to design."
[NB. SCHEMATA is the plural of
SCHEMA]
64
PERCEPTUAL ORDER
perceptual psychology findings:
(1) FIGURE & GROUND
The most basic form of organisation of
visual input from the environment is its
division into figure and ground.
The fewer re-entrant angles the
contour of an object has, the stronger
its 'figure quality' and the more it will
stand out from its background. (Law of
Closure)
(2) FORMATION OF GROUPS
(SEEING GROUPS)
In the process of perception, objects
are organised into groups…
Objects which are close together tend
to be seen as a group
(Law of Proximity).
Objects which are identical or similar in
shape and/or colour and/or texture
and/or tone tend to be seen as a
group
(Law of Similarity).
Objects which form some kind of
pattern tend to be seen as a group.
Where such a pattern exists, a
perceptual expectation will be
formed that is will continue
(Law of Continuity).
PERCEPTUAL VARIETY
POINTS OF INTEREST: … "increase
the information content of a setting and
therefore increase its variety." Kinds of
perceptual features shown to be 'visual
attractors':
•
CORNERS (very attractive > they
give lots of information)
•
TOP CONTOURS (try line of type
test: cover Top half cv. Bottom)
•
VERTICAL CONTOURS (more
than horizontal)
•
SLOPING CONTOURS (more
than vertical or horizontal)
•
FACE-LIKE SHAPES (very
strong attractors, innate:
demonstrated in infants only hours
old!)
•
MOVEMENT (strongest attractor)
ORNAMENT
"The primary importance of ornament
is to increase variety and thus create
perceptual interest."
USES OF ORNAMENT:
•
to focus attention on important
bits
•
for symbolic & expressive use
•
to increase unity of design
•
to emphasise defining elements
(corners, tops…)
•
to preserve apparent solidarity
(esp. when emphasising contours)
COGNITIVE ORDER
2 types: both involving expectation &
prediction...
SYNCHRONIC (same time)
expectation & prediction created by
some regularity in environment ...
particularly some kind of pattern...
DIACHRONIC (across time)
expectation & prediction created by
past experience... schema stored in
long term memory... of great
significance to design… 'familiarity
breeds contempt'
This is the psychological foundation on
which the commercial activity of
fashion is built.
4 Types of Symbolism
(1) FUNCTIONAL
to mark the entrance to a building, to
distinguish between private/public
areas or play/quiet areas...
(2) ASSOCIATIVE
to recognise place for what it is must
use some of [commonly agreed]
"cognitive schema"...
(3) EFFECTIVE / BEHAVIOURAL
to convey info about how to behave in
a setting…
to reinforce or inhibit certain
behaviours...
(4) EVALUATIVE
to convey info about importance of
activity designed for...
Rational & Irrational Order
Arnheim's 4 Organising
Principles
(1) HOMOGENITY unity of colour
and/or texture and/or tone
(2) CO-ORDINATION
"A place for everything and everything
in its place" –
a low definition form of order
(3) HIERARCHY
"An order based on the dominance of
some parts over others."
(4) ACCIDENT
"irrational co-ordination with high
definition" [detailing].
TYPES of ORDER
SYMBOLISM
"Symbolism is a high level form of
diachronic cognitive order. Something
can be a symbol of something else if it
has characteristics of features which
are in some way analogous to (like)
some characteristics or features of the
thing symbolised. The closer the
analogy, the more effective the
symbolism." not to be confused with
SIGNS! Signs (& often logos) don't
have the analogy component…
"…symbolism is the relationship and
expression is the process by which the
relationship is achieved."
RATIONAL ORDER
•
Classical tradition
conforming to some rule or ratio
(Arnheim 1966)
•
SYMMETRY [same/mirror about
an axis/axes]
•
PROPORTIONAL SYSTEMS
•
"repetition of similar shapes a
different sizes"
IRRATIONAL ORDER
•
Romantic tradition
relies on "basic ordering principles
of perception other than the Law of
Similarity [underlies rational forms of
order]"
Source: Design Theory Lecture Notes
prepared by Jeannie Sim, QUT/PLAS,
2000 which were based on TOM
HEATH (1989) "Part 4 – Aesthetics"
in Introduction to Design Theory,
QUT publication.
COMPARATIVE REFERENCE TABLE (Heath pg. 69)
STIMULATION REDUCING
(Order) (Beauty)
Homogeneity/harmony of colour, texture, tone
Few/smooth contours
Few identifiable objects, elements, parts
Similarity of parts
Symmetry, pattern in arrangement of parts
Static
Conventional, predictable
Clear, intelligible, rational [ie conforming to proportion]
Durable
High definition [ie good detailing]
Few people
Permanent / no user / control / safe
STIMULATION INCREASING
(Complexity) (Interest)












65
Heterogeneity/contrast of colour, texture, tone
Many/rough or irregular contours
Many identifiable objects, elements or parts
Variety of parts
Asymmetry, randomness in arrangement of parts
Changing or moving
Novelty, surprise
Ambiguous, enigmatic, irrational
Temporary
Low definition
Many people
Manipulable / explorable / responsive / adventurous
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5: Character
with too little water, or too much water all at
once also demands special design solutions
when gardening or growing crops. These
were skills that newcomers to Queensland
had to learn. The Aboriginal inhabitants had
been managing and living very well in these
environments for some 65,000 years BP –
they had learned the capabilities of the land
and the climate.
DETERMINING
LANDSCAPE
CHARACTER
by Jeannie Sim
This section reviews some of the existing
approaches
landscape
architects
(in
particular) use to undertake landscape visual
assessments and landscape character
assessments. It also contains related
approaches by geographers to describe
landscape character. Together they reveal
two traditional streams among different
professional groups to quantify and classify
the landscape.
Queensland has been both denigrated
(especially in the 19th century) and
celebrated (especially post-WW2) as a
'tropical' place. For instance, the slogan
"Beautiful one day, perfect the next" has
been used in the 1990s by the Queensland
Tourist Bureau for promoting Queensland
climate, beaches and environment. Actually,
it has a variety of climatic zones that include
the true hot-wet tropics of the coastal far
north, hot-dry tropics and subtropics of the
inland, milder wet subtropics down the
coastal fringe to Brisbane and parts south,
and there is even several cool, mountainous
regions (upland plateaux) where it
frequently has frosts and very infrequently
snows.
Understanding the existing character of the
landscapes of Queensland can be considered
in terms of a combination procedures:
describing the visual form and revealing the
various associations held by groups and
individuals for these places. The major
sections of this essay reflect a wide field of
background deliberations: regions and
character (various disciplines involved); the
physical
landscapes
of
Queensland
(geographical analysis); and traditional
visual analysis (landscape architectural and
art theory).
This variety of climates and the subtleties
that do not relate solely to relative latitude,
perhaps mark the real distinctiveness that is
Queensland. In this State, there are
significant climatic differences between
Townsville and Toowoomba, Mt. Isa and
Tambourine Mountain. This climatic
variation is part of the explanation for the
wide variety of vegetation types and
associated fauna enjoyed by contemporary
Queenslanders.
Before proceeding to a discussing these
regions further, it is appropriate to review
the basic geographical character of the
whole State of Queensland.
The Broad Geographical Context
A selection of approaches to classifying
those variations (the physical regions) are
revealed in this section.
Queensland, the second largest State in
Australia, has a huge land area of some 1.7
million square kilometres with a wide range
of climates, landforms, soil types and natural
vegetation. Not all this area is arable in the
traditional (European) sense. Because of this
range of conditions, it is difficult to
generalise about the creation of cultural
landscapes across the whole State, especially
those centered on agriculture or horticulture.
These natural factors have been influential,
for example, in determining the differences
in the choice of suitable plants. Managing
Introduction to
Regions and Character
At the beginning of 1999, Brian Hudson and
Jeannie Sim were discussing the use of
regionalisation in Queensland as a method
of categorising similar landscapes and
determining distinctive landscapes. This idea
was also being explored as a lead into the
preparation of the 'Making of the
Queensland Landscape' component of the
66
Contested Terrains project which was
revised subsequently to became the
Thematic Study of the Cultural Landscape
of Queensland. The following discussion
introduces the concepts of regionalisation
(categorising landscape by regions) and
landscape character, principally as physical
geographers perceive the land. A
preliminary step in considering the character
of Queensland's landscapes is an exploration
of regions. The first observation that can be
made is that the concept of regions can be
used to describe many different features or
systems. Different authorities use regions for
different reasons in different ways.
regions
of
Queensland
based
on
authoritative
geographical
texts
by
Learmonth and Learmonth (1971) and Jeans
(1978). A comparison of the terms or names
used by the Learmonths and by Jeans reveals
certain similarities and certain differences.
Table 3 shows this comparison of the names
of regions and includes the "Areas of
Difference" defined by John Holmes in
Wadley and King (1993). Jeans and the
Learmonths' studies were concerned with the
whole of Australia. Holmes was focused on
Queensland. Physical Regions (identified in
Table 3 are not based on visual
characteristics. Overall these regions are
categorised using topographical, geological
or geographical attributes: that is, classifying
places according to similar land form
characteristics.
The first approach to devising regional
classifications is contained in the next
section prepared by Brian Hudson, who
summarises the major physical landscape
Table 3: PHYSICAL REGIONS OF QUEENSLAND: a comparison
"Areas of Difference"
Holmes in Wadley and King
(1993:146)
(A) Cape York
(B) Cairns
(C) Gulf and North-west
(D) Townsville-Mackay
(E) Central coast
(F) South-west
(G) South-central
(H) South-east.
Queensland Regions
Learmonth and Learmonth (1971)
Physiographic Regions
Jeans (1978)
ALL OF:
'The North East' (the Eastern
Basins and Ranges)
MOST OF:
'West of the Divide' (including
Cape York Peninsula)
PARTS OF
'Central Australia'
'The South East' (all the Darling
Downs, some of the North Darling
Lowlands and the northern tip of
New England).
ALL OF:
Peninsular Uplands
(Cape York)
Burdekin Uplands
Fitzroy Uplands
Great Barrier Reef
Carpentaria Lowlands,
SOME OF:
Carpentaria Fall
Central Lowlands
Lander-Barkly Plains
New England-Moreton Uplands.
biogeographical, or rather a simplification of
the latter. New categorisations of landscape,
which regularly appear, reveal a possible
dissatisfaction with existing classifications.
Whether the existing forms are too specific
or too general is not clear. The variety of
regional systems can be seen in the final
table in this section (Table 5). The diverse
sources of these classifications include those
of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Local
Government Authorities, Qld Department of
Primary Industry designations and other
physiographic
and
biogeographic
approaches. These authorities represent a
mixture of physical and political (or
bureaucratic) approaches.
Close to the regions based on physical
character are the recently devised
Biogeographic Regions, which have
become the standard classification system
for many authorities involved in the care of
the environment and rural affairs (including
Environmental Protection Agency and
Queensland
Department
of
Primary
Industries). A recent study of Queensland's
landscape character by a firm of landscape
architects concerned with major roadway
design, employed a modified version of the
biogeographic regions combined with
aspects of other physical classifications.
These two approaches are presented in Table
4). The Broad Landscape Regions represent
a hybrid of the physical and the
67
Table 4: BIOGEOGRAPHIC & LANDSCAPE REGIONS IN QUEENSLAND:
a comparison
A. "Biogeographic Regions" in
Draft Queensland Ecotourism Plan (1995:26-29)
B. "Broad Landscape Regions" in
[Queensland] Main Roads : Road Landscape
Manual (EDAW, June 1997: Figure A2-2)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Gulf Fall Uplands
North West Highlands
Gulf Plains
Cape York Peninsula
Mitchell Grass Downs
Channel Country Complex
Simpson-Strzelecki Dunefields
Mulga Lands
Darling-Riverine Plain
Great Barrier Reef
Wet Tropics
Central Mackay Coast
Einasleigh Uplands
Desert Uplands
Brigalow Belt (IHCLQ: = Coastal)
Brigalow Belt (IHCLQ: = Inland)
South East Queensland
North West Slopes
Nth New England Tableland
(GFU)
(NWH)
(GP)
(CYP)
(MGD)
(CCC)
(SSD)
(ML)
(DRP)
(GBR)
(WT)
(CMC)
(EU)
(DU)
(BBc)
(BBi)
(SEQ)
(NWS)
(NNET)
South East
Wide Bay
Capricorn Coast
Whitsunday Coast
Townsville Coast
Wet Tropics
Cape York Peninsula
Dry Tropical Uplands
Capricorn Uplands
Moreton Uplands
Carpentaria Lowlands
Interior Lowlands
part SEQ + part NWS
part SEQ
part CMC + part BBi
part CMC
part Bbi
WT
part CYP
EU+DU
partBBo+partBBi
NET+partBBo+partNWS
part CYP+GP
GFU+NWH+MGD+CCC
+SSD+ML+DRP
+partBBo
IHCLQ = Derived from Sim, Jeannie and Jan Seto (1996), Inventory of Historic Cultural Landscapes in Queensland,
Final Report for Stage 1. Manly West, Qld: AGHS, Queensland Branch.
What is interesting here is the comparison of
all
these
approaches
to
regional
classifications to find where there are
overlapping 'boundaries' and distinctions.
While this sort of comparison is best worked
out using a series of maps overlaid, such a
conglomeration is difficult to read at a
glance. Thus, the table format gives some
indication of the enormous range of districts
and the repetitive name usage between
systems.
REFERENCES:
Draft Queensland Ecotourism Plan (1995), Brisbane:
Queensland Government, Department of
Tourism, Sport and Youth.
Holmes, John (1993), "Areas of Difference", In Wadley,
David and W. Bill King (1993), Reef, Range
and Red Dust: The Adventure Atlas of
Queensland. Brisbane: Department of Lands,
Queensland Government, pp. 146-161.
Jeans, D.N. (1978), Australia, a geography, London and
Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Learmonth, N. and A. Learmonth (1971), Regional
Landscapes of Australia, Sydney and London:
Angus and Robertson.
Further analysis of these regional systems
did not appear to help come to terms with
the concept of determining landscape
character.
[Queensland] Main Roads: Road Landscape Manual EDAW,
June 1997: Figure A2-2.
References for Table 5:
These different approaches to designating
regions have at least one characteristic in
common: they are spatially based, with maps
defining boundaries (albeit tenuous at
times). However, the reasons for the
boundaries being where they were and the
character of each region has not been
presented here. The exception being the
following descriptions of the physical
regions of Queensland by Hudson.
Stanley, T.D. and E.M. Ross (1983), Flora of south-eastern
Queensland, Vol. 1, Brisbane: Queensland
Department of Primary Industries, Pastoral
Regions listed on Map 1, 2 pages before
Foreword.
Draft Queensland Ecotourism Plan (1995:26-29)
for Biogeographic Regions.
68
Table 5: REGIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS IN QUEENSLAND: a comparison.
Local Government +
Major Town/City
Mount Isa City
Mount Isa
Burke Shire
Burketown
Carpentaria Shire
Normanton
Blackall Shire
Blackall
Longreach Shire
Longreach
Diamantina Shire
Bedourie
Barcoo Shire
Jundah
Murweh Shire
Charleville
Paroo Shire
Cunnamulla
Waggamba Shire
Goondiwindi
Cairns City
Cairns
Atherton Shire
Atherton
Mackay City
Mackay
Mareeba Shire
Mareeba
Dalrymple Shire
Charters Towers
Barcaldine Shire
Barcaldine
Townsville City
Townsville
Rockhampton City
Rockhampton
Gladstone City
Gladstone
Toowoomba City
Toowoomba
Warwick Shire
Warwick
Mount Morgan Shire
Mount Morgan
Roma Town
Roma
Maryborough City
Maryborough
Bundaberg City
Bundaberg
Brisbane City
Brisbane
Ipswich City
Ipswich
Gatton Shire
Gatton
Redland Shire
Cleveland
Gold Coast City
Surfers Paradise
Stanthorpe Shire
Stanthorpe
Whitsunday Shire
Proserpine
Australian Bureau of
Statistics Region
Biogeographic Region
Pastoral Region
North West
Gulf Fall Uplands
Burke
North West
North West Highlands
Burke
North West
Gulf Plains
Burke
Central West
Mitchell
Central West
Mitchell
Central West
Gregory North
Central West
Gregory North
South West
Mulga Lands
Warrego
South West
Mulga Lands
Warrego
Darling Downs
Darling-Riverine Plain
Darling Downs
Far North
Wet Tropics
Cook
Far North
Wet Tropics
Cook
Mackay
Central Mackay Coast
South Kennedy
Far North
Einasleigh Uplands
Cook
North
Einasleigh Uplands / Desert
Uplands
North Kennedy
Central West
Desert Uplands
Mitchell
North
Brigalow Belt [coast]
North Kennedy
Fitzroy
Port Curtis
Fitzroy
Port Curtis
Darling Downs
Brigalow Belt [inland]
Darling Downs
Darling Downs
Brigalow Belt [inland] / North
West Slopes
Darling Downs
Fitzroy
Port Curtis
South West
Brigalow Belt [inland]
Maranoa
Wide Bay & Burnett
Wide Bay
Wide Bay & Burnett
Wide Bay
South East Qld
Moreton
South East Qld
Moreton
South East Qld
Moreton
South East Qld
Moreton
South East Qld
Moreton
Darling Downs
Nth New England Tableland
Darling Downs
North
Great Barrier Reef
North Kennedy
SOURCE: Derived from Sim, Jeannie and Jan Seto (1996), Inventory of Historic Cultural Landscapes in Queensland,
Final Report for Stage 1. Manly West, Qld: AGHS, Queensland Branch.
NOTE:
Pastoral Regions : Gregory South, Leichhardt and Burnett not represented in this table.
69
major regions – the Peninsular Uplands
(Cape York), Burdekin Uplands, Fitzroy
Uplands, Great Barrier Reef and Carpentaria
Lowlands, and some which are shared with
one or more neighbouring states (including
NT): Carpentaria Fall, Central Lowlands,
Lander-Barkly Plains and the New EnglandMoreton Uplands (Jeans, 1978). Similarly,
N. and A. Learmonth (1971), in their book,
The Regional Landscapes of Australia,
divide the continent into regions, a number
of which lie entirely within Queensland,
with others extending across the boundaries,
including some straddling those of
Queensland and its neighbours. Because the
Learmonth regions are essentially 'physical'
in the broader sense (ie. based largely on
both physiographic and climatic factors)
these will be used as the basis of the
following description of Queensland's
physical landscapes.
THE PHYSICAL
LANDSCAPES OF
QUEENSLAND
By Brian J. Hudson
Regions may be defined by an infinite
number of criteria, some of them of a
physical nature (eg. geology, climate, soils,
natural vegetation), others related to human
activity (culture, language, economic
activity, land use). Often regions are defined
in terms of composite criteria, combining
physical and cultural factors, and even
physical regions may be defined on the basis
of combined factors – climate, soil and
vegetation etc.). For the purpose of
landscape analysis, 'natural' or 'physical'
regions based on landform (related in part to
geology), climate and vegetation, have value
as settings for the evolving human activity
which itself modifies the environment,
creating what may be termed 'cultural
landscapes'.
In the Learmonths' regional hierarchy,
Queensland contains all of 'The North East'
(the Eastern Basins and Ranges), most of
'West of the Divide' (including Cape York
Peninsula), and parts of 'Central Australia'
and 'The South East' (all the Darling Downs,
some of the North Darling Lowlands and the
northern tip of New England). The
description starts with the South East,
moving progressively northwards towards
Cape York, then south into 'West of the
Divide', ending with the arid west of the
state, the North Darling Lowlands and,
finally, the Darling Downs back in the state's
South-east.
Another important question in the defining
of regions is the matter of scale or level of
resolution. On the very broad scale,
Queensland may be divided into two
physiographic regions: the coastal uplands
extending from the New South Wales border
to Cape York, and the inland basins and
lowlands which stretch westwards into the
Northern Territory and South Australia and
south into New South Wales. Within the
coastal belt there are, of course, lowland
areas, especially where major rivers enter
the sea, and there are inland uplands, notably
in the Mount Isa region. The other important
variable is climate. The coastal areas are
relatively wet, the inland ones progressively
dry with distance from the ocean, while, in
general, average temperatures increase
northwards. Altitudinal variation in climate,
though important locally, is not very
significant at the broad regional scale.
Brisbane and the Moreton Region
The South-east corner of Queensland is
mainly lowland adjacent to the sea on the
east between Maroochydore and the NSW
border, and enclosed by mountains, part of
the Great Divide, on the west, with the
Darling
Downs
stretching
beyond.
Descending from the inland ranges, the
Brisbane River flows to the sea through a
wide lowland gap, entering Moreton Bay by
a now largely artificial channel across the
deltaic flats. Enclosing the bay, with its
marshy islets, is a chain of sand islands. The
climate is subtropical.
The physiographic regional map of Australia
shows how Queensland contains within its
very artificial boundaries several complete
70
summer rains. While the region's more
northerly location is reflected in generally
higher average temperatures relative to those
of areas previously described, rainfall is
lower, giving the landscape a drier
appearance than that to the immediate north
and south. One response which has
significant impact on the landscape is
irrigation for agriculture. The exploitation of
mineral deposits, including gold and coal,
has also had important influence on the
landscape in some areas.
The Burnett and Mary River Basins
North of the Moreton Region lie the Burnett
and Mary River Basins, similarly bounded
by the sea and part of the Great Divide. The
coastal lowland stretches southwards to link
with that of the Moreton region, while the
coast is characterized by a broad belt of
sand, part of the same dune system which
forms the islands enclosing Moreton Bay to
the south. These culminate in Fraser Island
which extends northwards to enclose Hervey
Bay. Lying just south of the Tropic of
Capricorn, this region has a subtropical
climate.
The Northern Sugar Coast
The larger of the two 'Sugar Coast' regions,
the Northern one echoes some of the
landscapes of that to the south from which it
is separated by the drier stretch of country
between Bowen and Townsville. Extending
from the edge of the Burdekin delta to the
Daintree, this coastal narrow coastal belt is
bordered inland by abrupt scarps of the
Northeast Highland. These form a prominent
background to the tropical landscape of the
narrow coastal plain, essentially a series of
lowland pockets around the mouths of
rivers. Here are recorded the highest
rainfalls in Australia, peaking between
December and March, which, combined
with high temperatures give rise to the lush
vegetation characteristic of tropical north
Queensland. Offshore, and extending
southwards to the Tropic of Capricorn, is the
Great Barrier Reef, a physical region in its
own right. The region's tropical climate, the
Great Barrier Reef, and spectacular coastal
scenery have contributed to the development
of an important tourist industry, largely
centred on Cairns.
The Fitzroy Basin
Extending through six degrees of latitude,
this region displays considerable climatic
variation, ranging from a subtropical south
to a tropical north. The topography is also
varied, the Fitzroy River draining the largest
basin of the east coast. The river system has
a broadly trellised pattern, forming
alternating parallel basins and ranges as the
Fitzroy and its tributaries cut through the
undulating uplands. Dominating much of the
region's centre is the Bowen Basin, notable
for its rich coal deposits which have had
important influences on both the physical
and cultural landscapes.
The Midland Sugar Coast
Occupying a small coastal strip between the
Fitzroy Basin and the adjoining Burdekin
Basin to the north is a narrow plain
stretching some 300k SE from Bowen. The
crop which forms part the region's name is
grown along much of the Queensland coast
and as far south as northern NSW, but this
little region is separated from the Northern
Sugar Coast by the distinctly drier large
region of the Burdekin Basin.
The North-East Highlands of
Queensland
Immediately inland from the Northern Sugar
Coast, the northernmost portion of 'The
Eastern Basins and Ranges', Queensland's
North-East Highlands form a wedge of
country which includes the state's highest
peak, Mount Bartle Frere (1622m), which is
part of the Bellenden Ker Range, and the
Atherton Tableland. The latter is an area of
fertile soil, derived from basalt, which lies
between the coastal mountains and the great
Dividing Range to the east. Here the climate
is tropical, but because of altitude,
The Burdekin Basin
The Burdekin has a slightly smaller
catchment than the Fitzroy, but its annual
discharge is much greater, making it the
largest river draining to Australia's Pacific
coast. Only a small proportion of the water
reaching the delta comes from the Great
Divide, which lies up to 300k inland at c.
1000 metres, east of much higher
intervening ranges which receive more
71
temperatures are lower than those on the
nearby coast.
568m above sea level, but the area is very
rugged, contrasting strongly with the
surrounding scenery as experienced by the
traveller approaching from other parts of
Queensland. The mineral wealth underlying
the rocky outcrops and spinifex scrub has
given rise to the mining town of Mount Isa
whose tall smelter chimney forms a
prominent landmark which can be seen from
afar. Westwards from the Isa Highlands
stretch the 'endless' levels of the Barkly
Tableland
where
average
summer
temperatures approach 40°C in the weeks
before the Wet, falling to about 25C in
'winter'. The characteristic vegetation is
Mitchell grass, the scattered coolabahs in
moister depressions offering scant shade for
grazing cattle. To the south the landscape
merges into the Channel Country, with its
network of, usually dry, watercourses. These
dissipate into the sands of the desert where
Queensland adjoins South Australia and the
southeast corner of NT. When the
headstreams are charged by good rains
between December and March the channels
fill, their waters spreading out below the
constrictions of the upper courses, an
impressive sight from the air. In this part of
Australia, however, despite the dramatic
quality of its rare occurrence, water is
mainly conspicuous by its absence and the
landscape is characterized by extreme
aridity. Here the typical landscape feature is
the linear dune system, particularly well
developed in the Simpson Desert.
Cape York Peninsula
Immediately to the north of the Northern
Sugar Coast and the North-East Highlands,
but included in the regions grouped together
as 'West of the Divide', lies the Cape York
Peninsula, the northernmost part of
mainland Australia. A small area lies east of
the Divide which lies close to the east coast.
The region is mostly lowlying, characterized
by low scrubby vegetation and red soils,
commonly punctuated by tall magnetic
anthills. The laterites of the west coast form
distinctive red sea cliffs, and the bauxite
deposits of this area support a flourishing
mining industry. The coastal rim and the
Torres Strait Islands have a sub-equatorial
climate, while the monsoonal rhythm of the
wet and dry seasons become particularly
marked in the central and western areas.
Gulf Country
Fringing the Gulf of Carpentaria between
the Cape York Peninsula and Arnhemland,
this region extends into the Northern
Territory,
stretching
south
towards
Queensland's Mid West and the state's arid
interior. "The Gulf Country has two
landscapes each year, the Wet and the Dry,
which overshadow the variations in
topography and vegetation within the region,
and provide two contrasting environments
with very short transitional seasons. The
adaptations evolved by rivers, plants,
animals ... are the key to the landscapes"
(Learmonth, 1971: 251-2). A variety of
grasses and scrubby trees cover the plains
and low plateaus of the inland areas, while
on the coast mangroves are common,
especially in the deltas, with samphire and
low grasses, or woodland covered sand
dunes elsewhere.
Mid-West Queensland
East of the arid far interior and south of the
Gulf Country the landscape merges into a
vast undulating region which has no sharp
topographic
boundaries.
It
remains
distinctive, however, being dominated by
natural grassland in a sub-tropical landscape
in which much of the water supply is
derived from artesian basins. Rainfall is
concentrated largely in the summer, but
there is much variability. This is stock
rearing country, grazed largely by sheep,
reared for wool, but with cattle playing an
important role for beef production. Although
the topography exhibits some diversity,
including the lateritic plateau south of
Kynuna, Kerr Table Top Mountain, and
wetter areas with basaltic soils supporting
Central Australia (West)
South of the Gulf Country, in the state's far
west, lies a portion of arid 'Central
Australia', including the Mount Isa region
and parts of the Barkly Tableland, the
Channel Country, the Horseshoe of Salt
Lakes and The Deserts, all distinct physical
regions. The Mount Isa Highlands is a
relative term, for the highest point is only
72
ironbark trees, Queensland's Mid West is
essentially a "pastoral country of wide skies
and grasslands" (Learmonth, 1971: 264).
Commonly, changes in the landscape occur
gradually, one type merging almost
imperceptibly into another. Furthermore,
generalized regional descriptions of the kind
given above mask significant variations that
can be observed even within quite small
areas. For example, in this necessarily brief
account, no mention is made of the
distinctive Glasshouse Mountains that lie
within the Moreton Lowland region, the
volcanic crater lakes of the Atherton
Tableland, or the many waterfalls that occur
in the mountains along the eastern coast
from north of Cairns to the New South
Wales border. These are problems that must
be acknowledged in any discussion of
regional landscapes, not least those of
Queensland.
The North Darling Lowlands
The Great Artesian Basin which underlies
much of Queensland's Mid West extends
southwards into lowlands drained by
intermittent rivers that converge to form the
Darling. Much of the region lies in northern
New South Wales. Apart from the northeastern rim, which is diversified by some
hilly areas and woodland, this is very open
pastoral country which experiences low and
very unreliable rainfall. The eastern edge of
the region is defined by Queensland's
Darling Downs and the northern extension
of New South Wales' New England district.
The Darling Downs
A small, but very distinctive and
economically important region, the Darling
Downs area is sharply defined along its
eastern edge by the Divide along the Main
and Bunya Ranges which drop steeply to the
Moreton Lowland. Formed largely on
Tertiary basalt, this upland area with its rich
soils, slopes gently westwards towards the
North Darling Lowlands from which it can
be distinguished mainly in terms of the
Downs' higher rainfall, lower temperatures
and flourishing mixed farming. To the south
it adjoins the Granite Belt of New England,
and it is here on the hills near the NSW
border that Queensland
experiences
occasional winter snow. These uplands form
part of the hinterland shared by Brisbane and
the Gold Coast, the urban areas which
dominate the Moreton Lowland.
References
Jeans, D.N. (1978), Australia, a geography, London and
Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Learmonth, N. and A. Learmonth (1971), Regional
Landscapes of Australia, Sydney and London:
Angus and Robertson.
Conclusion
The artificiality of state boundaries is no
more obvious than where Queensland
adjoins NSW. The North Coast of New
South Wales is a natural continuation of the
Moreton Lowland, both regions sandwiched
between a sub-tropical coast and the
mountain ranges inland, while west of the
Great Divide, the two states share the North
Darling Lowlands and the Channel Country.
Similarly, although in Queensland, as
elsewhere, separate physical regions can be
distinguished, continuities between these
recognizable entities are often very marked.
73
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5: Landscape Design Theory
called a process, rather than an activity,
because it involves layers of decisionmaking, consultation with clients and
owners, meditation and mediation, musings
and occasionally, enlightenment, to create a
product. Thus, there can be many
contributors with various beliefs and
attitudes influencing the outcome of a
construction project. For landscape design,
the additional ingredient is that the product
never remains static: management regimes,
forces of nature and changing uses are just
some of the factors that alter the form and
components of the designed landscape over
time. Recognising the dynamic quality of
landscapes (both natural and cultural) is a
key factor in understanding them.
Regulating change due to these natural
processes is the key factor in ensuring the
original intentions of landscape design are
maintained.
In Summary,
LANDSCAPE DESIGN = DESIGN
PROCESS + NATURAL PROCESSES
(in degrees, minute to massive)
LANDSCAPE DESIGN
THEORY 62
by Jeannie Sim
Background to Design Theory
The basic 'design tools' for landscape
design, architectural design or any other
kind of specialist design are derived from
the fundamental art theory, in particular, the
visual elements (point, line, 2D shape, 3D
form, colour/tone and texture) and the
design principles (unity / variety, balance –
symmetry and asymmetry, scale, proportion,
contrast / tension, movement / rhythm),
which arrange and manipulate these visual
elements (also see Table 6).
In summary,
DESIGN TOOLS = Visual elements +
design principles.
Aspects of Landscape Design:
Nature and Culture
From this basic set of tools, the design result
is determined by the application of one or
several design theories. These theories are
constantly growing in number and changing
in definition as time passes and experiences
change ideas and attitudes. Design theory
varies between design disciplines, although
there is often overlapping constructs and
cross-disciplinary influences. Art theory (old
and new) is also constantly refreshing design
theory, making a volatile mixture.
In summary,
DESIGN RESULTS (the product) =
design tools + design theory/theories.
One constant in landscape design is that it is
a reflection of cultural attitudes towards
nature and natural processes. These
perceptions can vary, between cultures, over
time, and by single individuals within a
lifetime. Arguably, this is a key concern that
separates landscape design from any other
kind of design in the built environment.
Philosophers from Ancient Greece onwards
to the present day have pondered over nature
and natural processes, and these ideas have
permeated the wider world, including the
attitudes and beliefs of landscape designers
and landscape users. This range of attitudes
that have been part of the history of
landscape design was summarised by
Australian landscape architect, Catherin Bull
thus:
Aspects of Landscape Design:
Process and Change
Understanding the nature of landscape
design is a vital aspect of undertaking any
designed landscape history.63 Design is often
62
Since the completion of this report, another publication
has been prepared expanding on this topic: Sim, Jeannie
(2001), Landscape Design Theory Primer, Brisbane:
School of Design and Built Environment, QUT.
63
The following observations were extracted from Chapter
2, Theoretical Framework for Designing Landscapes, in
Sim, Jeannie (1999), "Designed Landscapes in
Queensland, 1859-1939: experimentation – adaptation –
innovation", unpublished PhD thesis, QUT, Brisbane.
Natural process may be expressed and
experienced as remote, static and even
benign (as in the picturesque), as bizarre
but domesticated fun (as in the
gardenesque), as architectonic (as in the
Baroque), as productive (as in the
medieval), as a miniature world (as in the
Victorian or post-modern). In landscape
74
design, nature may be glorified, trivialised
or marginalised. Its processes may be
experienced or disguised.64
of their values at face value results in
superficial history.65
Art and architecture have a large body of
literature
containing
theory
and
historiographical traditions that reach back
to classical Greece, at least. 'History, theory
and criticism' of architecture are often
studied as a conglomerate topic in tertiary
institutions and their associated reference
texts and reading lists reflect the healthy
state of this literary tradition.66 Literature as
a fine art has an equally rich and even more
ancient history of theory and criticism.67 The
origin of many ideas used in landscape
design can be traced back to these other
associated creative fields, including:
concepts about classifying design into
stylistic categories and typologies; the
techniques of researching and writing
histories; and many sorts of design theories.
However, some indication of the range of
associated theory is gained when scanning
the range of disciplines that discuss
'landscape',
including:
art
history;
architectural history; human and physical
streams in geography; several social
sciences
(sociology,
anthropology,
psychology);
aesthetic
philosophy;
archaeology; economic, political and
cultural history; imaginative and travel
literature; and, environmental history and
environmental sciences.
The attitudes and ensuing relationships,
dissonant or harmonious, that different
cultures in different eras have had with
nature, has become a major study area in
itself for environmental historians, and
others. There are many cultural attitudes and
beliefs revealed in landscape design, ranging
from the destructive or merely ignorant, to
vague
acknowledgment
or
active
glorification, of Nature and natural
processes.
In Summary,
LANDSCAPE DESIGN = NATURE and
CULTURE entwined and affecting.
Landscape/Garden Design in
Theory
At first glance, landscape or garden design
theory and criticism appears as a relatively
recent field of intellectual pursuit, with a
distinct shortage of discussion reflected in
the literature, albeit growing. Most fields
within art and design have always contained
theory and criticism as vital components,
and these are reflected in their histories.
History has been a major conveyor of
traditional theories and medium for
developing new theories. As a possible rolemodel
for
developing
landscape
historiography, Australian art historian
Bernard Smith's speculations on improving
the relationship between (art) history and
criticism may be helpful:
For 'landscape design' specifically, the
search for relevant theoretical literature
appears more difficult. Some preliminary
observations can be made about the theory
and criticism of landscape design, which
seems
greatly
under-explored
and
undeveloped in comparison with other
creative disciplines. The highly respected
Landscape Journal (USA) is one of the few
arenas open for erudite discussion in this
I
strongly
suspect
that
the
historiographical
reason
for
the
prevalence of the movement model is due
to the fact that the history of postEnlightenment art has come to be written
largely in their form of recovered
criticism. Avant-garde movements write
their justifications and we, the historians,
adopt, adapt or recover them. But it seems
to me that, although the recovery of
criticism is an important part of arthistorical writing, as is the delineation of
avant-garde movements, the acceptance
64
Bull, Catherin (1996), "A Purposeful Aesthetic? Valuing
Landscape Style and Meaning in the Ecological Age,"
Landscape Australia 18 (2, February), pg. 27
75
65
Smith, Bernard (1988), The Death of the Artist as Hero:
Essays in History and Culture. Melbourne: OUP. pg. 35.
66
For example, these recent compendia bring new and
historical theories of their own and related creative fields
to the attention of the student architect: Johnson, PaulAlan (1994), The Theory of Architecture: Concepts,
Themes, and Practice. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold ; and, Leach, Neil (ed.) (1997), Rethinking
Architecture: A reader in cultural theory. London/New
York: Routledge.
67
The social sciences sometimes use theory as criticism,
and thus shift paradigms; this was not explored here.
area.
The
professional
landscape
architectural magazines, Landscape Design
(UK), Landscape Architecture (USA) and
Landscape Australia offer occasional essays
on theory and criticism of landscape design,
and are important because of their influence
and
breadth
of
readership.
The
Planning/Urban Design journal Places also
offers occasional articles on design theory as
well.
Two more recent (1999) works are valiant
attempts to make those connections and
bring some order to the chaos. From the art
world comes Malcolm Andrews new
interpretation of landscape art: Landscape
and Western Art.70 Going beyond the only
other previous scholarly treatment of this
subject (Kenneth Clark's Landscape in Art,
1949), Andrews provides meat for many
'disciplines': landscape artists, earth artists,
environmental artists and thus landscape
design generally. Andrews bibliographic
essay read s like a set of references a
reputable landscape architectural course
should demand; further demonstrating his
wide grasp of theory relevant to landscape
art. From the local landscape architectural
profession comes some much-needed selfreflection: Ian H. Thompson's Ecology,
Community and Delight: Sources of values
in landscape architecture.71 His thesis states
that effective landscape design must
combine and balance the perceived
traditional areas of emphasis – aesthetics,
the environment and society. Thereby, the
major areas of landscape design theory are
discussed and integrated.
Larger works (whole books or collections of
essays) are curiously scarce. A few exciting
exceptions to this observation have occurred
recently, promising further scholarship in
this area. Some of these sources reveal that
landscape or garden design theory may not
be (or may not have been) so scanty as one
thought. What has been missing in the past,
has been a single volume containing
overviews of all or most design theories and
organising them as a coherent set, rather
than emphasising any single one, or any
particular time.
One of the first theoretical accounts that
inspired me in the 1970s, was the three
volume set written by Geoffrey Jellicoe,
entitled Studies in Landscape Design.68 Here
was an example of a practicing landscape
architect writing about theoretical matters in
a scholarly and thought-provoking manner,
posing questions about meaning, allegory
and symbolism that are cutting-edge postmodernity. The recent publication (1997)
from Australian polymath George Seddon,
translated isolated ideas formerly expressed
as miscellaneous journals articles into a
single collection, albeit juxtaposed rather
than conjoined.69 The shear range of themes
examined by Seddon provides an intriguing
insight into the range of issues that impact
landscape design. Because Jellicoe's and
Seddon's books are both compendia of
isolated sojourns into theoretical matters
(important though that might be), they do
not bring some sense of order to the range of
theory available for the landscape designer.
68
Jellicoe, G.A. (1959, 1966, 1970), Studies in Landscape
Design, 3 Vols. London: Oxford University Press.
69
Seddon, G. (1997), Landprints: Reflections of place and
landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge UP
In the year 2000, two other noteworthy and
different works on landscape theory
appeared: John Dixon Hunt used his usual
mastery of historiographical scholarship in
Greater Perfections: The Practice of Garden
Theory;72 and, Guy Cooper and Gordon
Taylor reflect contemporary design and
designers in their Gardens of the Future:
Gestures Against the Wild.73 These two
works also reflect the interchangeable use of
'garden' design/theory and 'landscape'
design/theory at present, which does not
reflect a bias, perhaps surprising, between
academics and active designers. Hunt argues
that practice without theory is problematic
and that the schism between gardeners and
76
70
Andrews, Malcolm (1999), Landscape and Western Art,
Oxford History of Art, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
71
Thompson, Ian H. (1999), Ecology, Community and
Delight: Sources of values in landscape architecture,
London and New York: E & FN Spon.
72
Hunt, John Dixon (2000), Greater Perfections: The
Practice of Garden Theory, Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania.
73
Cooper, Guy and Gordon Taylor (2000), Gardens of the
Future: Gestures Against the Wild, New York: Monacelli
Press.
landscape architects is equally unfortunate.
Cooper and Taylor speculate that it will be
landscape and garden designers that lead the
creative arts into the next century, advancing
new theories and built innovations, that
other fields will follow.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD: Rationalism;
Empiricism; Utilitarianism and Capitalism;
Positivism;
ROMANTICISM: feeling rather than
reason; reformed in 20th century;
GERMAN IDEALISM: Hegel (Logic,
System etc)
MARXISM: socialism of various sorts
PHENOMENOLOGY: first hand
experience; Existentialism (being and
nothingness)
FEMINISM: inclusivity; new histories and
new areas of cultural studies.
POSTMODERNISM: Structuralism
(Semiotics); Post-Structuralism (rejecting
Grand Theories); Deconstructionism (text
and language, landscape as text).
Major Landscape Design Theories
There are a range of landscape design
theories that should be noted here as an
introduction to the field, but more detailed
explanations are required to effectively
apply these theories. As with all theories, at
their cores are found philosophical ideas.
The interwoven character of philosophy and
creativity makes for interesting theoretical
results. The following descriptions provide
only a basic inventory overview of the major
theories. It is also important to note that
generally these theories are used both for the
analytical investigation of existing situations
(often as a basis for proposing design
improvements) and for the creative design
process itself.
In summary,
DESIGN THEORIES are used for both
ANALYSIS and DESIGN.
(2) AESTHETICS, ART and
LANDSCAPE
Ancient Roman murals; Renaissance
settings or subjects; 'Landskip' Painting.
The Line of Beauty. William Hogarth (18th
century)
The Picturesque. Rev. William Gilpin (18th
century)
The Picturesque and the Sublime. Uvedale
Price and Richard Payne Knight (18th
century)
The Picturesque. Humphry Repton (early
19th century)
The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of
Aesthetic Theory. George Santayana
(1897)
Art as Experience. John Dewey (1934)
The Experience of Landscape. Jay Appleton
(1975)
The Transformation of the Commonplace.
Arthur C. Danto (1981)
European Visions of the South Pacific.
Bernard Smith (1989)
The Aesthetics of Landscape. Steven
Bourassa (1991)
Assessing and quantifying landscape
aesthetics: Landscape Visual Assessment;
Environmental Aesthetics. (includes basic
design tools, Environmental Psychology,
Phenomenology, etc.)
The following listing of major landscape
design theories has been arranged under five
headings:
1. Philosophy
2. Aesthetics, Art and Landscape
3. Ecology, Environment and Geography
4. People (Individuals and communities)
5. Landscape Design Movements.
(1) PHILOSOPHY
The primary source of influence on
landscape design in the West comes from
western philosophy, underpinning design
theories as well as motivating attitudes and
beliefs generally. More recently, eastern
religious and philosophical ideas have begun
expanding this range. Both sources (and
other indigenous beliefs) are influencing the
global design domain at present. The major
Western philosophical movements of
relevance include:
AESTHETICS, NATURE, PERFECT
PROPORTION: Ancient Greek
philosophers – Plato, Euclid, etc.
HUMANISM: individual human rights (and
obligations)
(3) ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT
and GEOGRAPHY
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY: numerous
approaches (also geology, geomorphology,
climatology, hydrology, etc.)
77
BOTANIC AL and HORTICULTURAL
SCIENCE: plants and how they grow
LANDSCAPE PLANNING: design with
nature (Ian McHarg, 1969)
ECOLOGICAL DESIGN: landscape
ecology; land mosaics (Forman, 1995)
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: Ecocities, recycling, rethinking traffic design,
wise resource use (e.g Thayer 1994, Spirn
1984)
ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY: studying
the past for clues for the future; landscape
interpretation (e.g. Dovers 1994, Grove
1996, Griffiths 1996)
LAND ART ('sensitive'): promoting /
celebrating / interpreting nature and the
land via art
LAND ART ('denatured'): ignoring /
controlling / dominating / damaging the
land and nature
ENVIRONMENTAL ART: where art theory
meets scientific theory
The Iconography of Landscapes. Denis
Cosgrove and Stephen Daniels (1989)
Reading Landscape: Country –City –
Capital. Simon Pugh (1990)
Denatured Visions: Landscape and Culture
in the 20th Century. S. Wrede and W.H.
Adams (1991)
Fields of Vision: Landscape Imagery &
National Identity in England and the
United States. Stephen Daniels (1993)
Landscape and Power. W.J.T. Mitchell
(1994)
URBAN FORM
TOWNSCAPE: 'Serial Views', 'hereness'
and 'thereness', etc. (Gordon Cullen 1960
and 1971)
GOOD CITY FORM: 'Legibility' and
'Imageability'. (Kevin Lynch 1960)
PATTERN LANGUAGE: timeless solutions
for towns, buildings and constructions
(Christopher Alexander et al, 1977)
RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS:
permeability, variety, legibility,
robustness, visual appropriateness,
richness and personalisation. (Ian Bentley
et al, 1985)
NEW URBANISM: Katz 1994, Kunstler
1993
PLACE THEORY: Tuan 1974 and 1977,
Relph 1976 and 1981, Marcus and Francis
1990
(4) PEOPLE
(Individuals and Communities)
ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY:
numerous theories within this scientific
area, especially concerning human
perception, cognition and behaviour; for
researching client/users needs and wants.
Refer to detailed description elsewhere in
this report.
MEANING of DESIGNED LANDSCAPES:
including phenomenology (sensory
responses to experience – memory,
associations, spirituality, sight, smell,
sound, taste and touch); semiotics;
symbolism; and so on. Also refer to other
sections of this report for detailed
discussion.
SOCIAL SCIENCES: numerous theories
about human societies and cultural studies;
community consultation; economics and
feasibility studies; researching client/users
needs and wants; etc.
LANDSCAPE AS A HUMAN IDEA
(Human Geography, historical, cultural
and political approaches):
The Making of the English Landscape.
W.G. Hoskins (UK, 1955)
Discovering the Vernacular Landscape.
J.B. Jackson (USA, 1984)
The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes.
D.W. Meinig (et al, 1979)
(5) LANDSCAPE DESIGN
STYLES or MOVEMENTS.
BASIC LANDSCAPE DESIGN
APPROACHES:
The Romantic Tradition: English
Landscape School; Picturesque;
Gardenesque (?); Wild Gardening;
American Prairie School; Australian Bush
Garden School;
The Classical Tradition: Ancient Egyptian,
Greek and Roman Gardens; Renaissance /
Baroque Gardens; 19th century-early 20th
neo-classical / Beaux Arts School; late 20th
century New Formalism (Tuscan,
Mediterranean, Boxed Style);
The Utilitarian Tradition: productive
landscapes (agriculture, horticulture and
forestry); scientific gardens (arboreta,
botanic gardens, experimental gardens,
system gardens, plant collections);
20th Century Movements (for the want of a
better term): Modernism; Minimalism;
78
Postmodernism; some Land and
Environmental Art; etc.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN MOVEMENTS in
HISTORY (revealing a strong Western bias)
Ancient Land Art:
Ancient Egypt / Greek / Roman Landscape
Design:
Traditional Chinese Gardens:
Traditional Japanese Gardens:
Medieval Gardens:
Islamic Gardens:
Italian Renaissance Gardens:
French Formal or Grand Style:
English Landscape School:
The Gardenesque. John Claudius Loudon;
The Gardenesque, Mixed or Middle Style.
Edward Kemp
Beaux Arts: 19th Century Classicism in the
garden (Bloomfield, Triggs, etc.)
Wild Gardening: William Robinson
Arts And Crafts/Surry School: Jekyll,
Sackville-West etc.
City Beautiful Movement and Garden Cities:
Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Geddes
Art Deco:
Modernism:
Functionalism: Less Is More; Form Follows
Function
Design As Problem-Solving:
Minimalism:
Aboriginal Perspective: Function Following
Form
Historicism:
Postmodernism (Design): Less is a Bore;
Deconstruction;
Environmental Art / Land Art
Native Plant Gardens (Bush Gardens in
Australia; Prairie School in USA; etc.)
Vernacular Design: architecture, design and
gardens without 'professionals' or
specialists
Popular Design: Derivative from 'High' and
Innovative Design; Kitsch;
79
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5: Visual Analysis
TRADITIONAL VISUAL
ANALYSIS
by Jeannie Sim
In landscape architectural practice, there are
several approaches to assessing the visual
character of landscapes. The fundamental
and original approach was borrowed from
art and design theory and involves 'visual
elements' and 'design principles' (Table 6).
REFERENCES:
Bell, Simon (1993), Elements of the Visual Design in the
Landscape, London: E & FN Spon.
Bentley, Ian et al (1985): Responsive Environments: a
manual for designers, Oxford: Architectural
Press
Catherine Brouwer Landscape Architects and Chenoweth &
Associates P/L (1994), Volume 1: Coastal
Visual Landscape Evaluation Procedure,
Volume 2: The Whitsunday Region Trial,
separate reports for the Dept of Environment &
Heritage, Coast Management Branch, Sept.
1994.
The analysis of landscape character has been
undertaken in recent years by the landscape
architectural profession utilising several
theoretical backgrounds. Table 7 is a
summary of the descriptions of several of
the most used models and their theoretical
origins. Essentially, the traditional quasiscientific approach of an expert aesthetic
analysis has been broadened in recent times
to include more experiential evidence from
other people (e.g. users, residents and
visitors).
These
phenomenological
approaches have augmented, rather than
replaced, the scientific approaches of
environmental
psychology.
More
information about these new experiential
approaches is provided in Chapter 7,
Interpreting Landscape as Text.
Cullen, Gordon (1971), The Concise Townscape, London:
Architectural Press.
Lynch, Kevin (1960): The Image of the City, Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press. (27th printing in 1997).
Motloch, John L. (1991): Chapter 8 "Visual Arts as Ordering
Mechanism", in Introduction to Landscape
Design, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Simonds, John O. (1997) Landscape architecture : a manual
of site planning and design, 3rd edition, New
York: McGraw-Hill.
Woodward, Ross and Fergus Neilson (1981), Rural Land
Evaluation Manual: a manual for conducting a
rural land evaluation exercise at the local
planning level, Sydney: Dept of Environment
and Planning.
Conclusion
The use of traditional landscape analysis
techniques based on understanding visual
character has been found to be wanting: to
be only a partial answer to the perceived
needs of interpretation. The following
section in this chapter reveals further how
traditional visual analysis is incapable of
incorporating the essential ingredient in
understanding the landscape – meaning.
80
Table 6: Notes about Visual Elements and Design Principles (DESIGN TOOLS)
DESIGN TOOLS are
•
The 'Language of Art': the visual
vocabulary
•
Elements and the Principles of
Visual Form.
DESIGN TOOLS: Summary
VISUAL ELEMENTS: that can be
manipulated by the designer to meet
needs & evoke moods
DESIGN PRINCIPLES: that govern the
manipulation of elements to certain
effects; also, they influence the way we
perceive compositions
DESIGN TOOLS: Visual
Elements
•
•
•
•
•
Point
Line
2D Shape / 3D Form
Colour / Tone
Texture
VISUAL ELEMENTS: Point
•
•
the point is the primary element
conceptually, points have no
length, width, depth or direction
•
points can imply intersection
•
points can generate lines, circles
& spheres
VISUAL ELEMENTS: Line
•
lines have length & direction but
no width or depth
•
line character:
thick line = strength
thin line = delicacy
straight = stability
zigzag = energetic
curvy = sensuous, etc.
•
outline & contour line
•
lines imply planes > planes imply
space
VISUAL ELEMENTS:
Shape/Form
(2D) SHAPE =area or surface
configuration
shape = figure;
field = ground >>
figure-ground relationship
(+ve & -ve space)
(3D) FORM = essential structure or
organisation of all parts in a work
VISUAL ELEMENTS: Colour /
Tone
a property of light not objects
HUE = colour (wavelength)
VALUE = relative lightness &
darkness
INTENSITY = brightness
TONE = light/shade or all
(hue/value/intensity)
warm = reds/yellows
cool = blues/greens
VISUAL ELEMENTS: Texture
•
•
surface characteristics
smooth, rough, grained,
corrugated, etc.
•
tactile (felt by touch) &
•
visual (illusion)
•
texture unifies sight & touch (act
as triggers to remembering feel)
DESIGN TOOLS: Design
Principles
•
•
Unity / Variety
Balance: symmetrical /
asymmetrical
•
Emphasis / Focalization
•
Scale
•
Proportion
•
Contrast / Tension
•
Movement / Rhythm
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Unity/Variety
•
unity or harmony imply elements
in composition belong together
•
unity = coherent, understandable
design
•
lack of unity = fragmented design
•
unity created by
continuity/repetition of elements
•
variety provides interest
•
need for unity with variety –
theme with variation – order with hint
of spontaneity
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Balance: symmetry /
asymmetry
balance = visual resolution of forces
•
symmetrical balance = mirror
images about an axis or axes
•
asymmetrical balance = balance
of dissimilar elements; informal but
dynamic
DESIGN PRINCIPLES: Scale
interpreting relative size via some unit
of measure e.g. a human being
•
intimate human scale (maximum
16 x 6m)
•
human scale (24 x 10m)
•
public human scale (250m)
•
superhuman (monumental)
•
extra-human, vast non-human
scale of nature
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Proportion
•
RELATIVE dimensions of
elements (length to width to depth)
•
search for a 'perfect' proportion is
ongoing;
'Golden Section' = 1: 0.618034 or
approx. 3:5 (Le Corbusier's 'Modular'
Man and oft repeated in nature: ram's
horn, nautilus shell)
'Fibonacci series' =
1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55 . . .
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Contrast/Tension
•
Tension = contrast or opposition
of various forms to produce a feeling
of energy and vitality
•
too much tension is not pleasant
while too little contrast can be boring
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Movement/Rhythm
DESIGN PRINCIPLES:
Emphasis / Focalization
allusion of movement across a visual
composition
types of rhythm:
legato = smooth
staccato = agitated
focus attention to increase
excitement
•
focal point = element with a
difference
•
converging lines >> focus
•
use with restraint so as not to
destroy overall unity !
Source: John L. Motloch (1991):
Chapter 8 "Visual Arts as Ordering
Mechanism", in Introduction to
Landscape Design, NY: Van Nostrand
Reinhold
•
81
Table 7: Notes about LANDSCAPE VISUAL ASSESSMENTS
WHAT IS LANDSCAPE
VISUAL ASSESSMENT?
DEFINITIONS: Landscape = "the
appearance of an area, the
assemblage of objects used to produce
that appearance, and the area itself."
Landscape visual assessment =
analysing the visual character and/or
significance of areas of land for some
specific purpose (often for
management and protection).
ORIGINS of LANDSCAPE
VISUAL ASSESSMENT
•
Mid-late 20th century outlook that
landscape is a RESOURCE…
•
There was perceived a need to
protect and manage landscapes (like
any other resource)
•
original analysis of VALUES
based on 'SCIENTIFIC METHOD':
repeatable, reliable, etc.
i.e. a reductionist approach
(compared with later attempts to
become more holistic)
•
BASIC OBSERVATION from
Year 2000: what is the appropriate
method depends on the purpose and
scale of place for assessment.
[Some] MODELS for
LANDSCAPE VISUAL
ASSESSMENTS
•
GEOGRAPHIC / CHARACTER
ANALYSIS [landscape units]
an expert paradigm
•
FORMAL AESTHETIC
CRITERIA
an expert paradigm
•
VISUAL PERCEPTION
PREFERENCES
cognitive / psychological paradigm
•
NARRATIVE/S
a experiential paradigm phenomenology and hermeneutics
•
SOCIAL VALUES
a combination paradigm: geographic
/ narrative = public opinion)
•
PSYCHO-PHYSICAL ANALYSIS
[>> ex USA]
– an expert paradigm (combination:
geographic, formal aesthetic + parts
of narrative / social value)
•
VISUAL-LANDSCAPE IMPACT
ASSESSMENT [>> ex UK]
– an expert paradigm (combination:
geographic /formal aesthetic)
Visual Assessments during
SITE SURVEYS
TYPICAL ASPECTS
Analysed:
•
•
•
landscape character
visual quality
viewshed (like a watershed: from
ridge to ridge)
•
external view points towards site
•
orientation points & vistas from
within site
•
special landscape / visual
qualities
ANALYSING SITE
STRUCTURE
•
•
•
•
•
•
focal points
visual / physical edges
nodes
landmarks
zones [districts]
paths/corridors.
CULTURAL & HISTORICAL
VALUES in SITE SURVEYS
•
•
regional/local histories
Aboriginal & Torres Strait
Islander Peoples values/histories
•
other culturally significant things
& places
• Queensland State Heritage
Register
• Australian Register of National
Estate
• Local Government list/s
• other lists
•
cultural studies: associated
meanings or symbolism
Formal Aesthetic Criteria
AN 'EXPERT' PARADIGM:
used by
• US Forest Service
• UK landuse in countryside
• (US) Kevin Lynch's city studies
• (UK) Gordon Cullen's
townscape analyses
using
•
VISUAL TOOLS (point, line, 2D
shape/3D form, colour/tone, texture)
and
•
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
(unity/variety; balance;
emphasis/focalization; scale;
proportion; contrast/tension;
movement/rhythm)
Some examples of particular
projects:
(1) US FORESTRY SERVICE
approach
CHARACTER TYPES &
ECOLOGICAL UNITS rated
for:
•
•
•
Visual prominence
Scenic Integrity
Scenic Quality based on
these factors:
• naturalness
• water & land-water edges
• uniqueness &
representativeness
• relative relief & ruggedness
• diversity & variety
• patterns
(2) Queensland Coastal
Visual Evaluation project
COMBINATION: USA & UK
approaches ; overlaying
1. Scenic Quality
2. Contribution to Regional Identity
3. Cultural Heritage
4. Cultural Values & Contribution
to Identity
5. Sensitivity
6. Scenic Integrity
Source: Various Lecture Notes
prepared by Helen Armstrong, Glenn
Thomas and Jeannie Sim, QUT/PLAS,
2000.
82
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 5: Meaning
meaningless.76 Stanford explained the words
used to describe the third sense thus: "what
is meaningful to us is enlivened, enriching
and positive; on the other hand, what we
find meaningless is depressing, dispiriting
and negative."77 These three interpretations
of 'meaning' could be expressed as: message,
purpose
and
significance.
Stanford
maintained that there was a "common
thread" in all senses of 'meaning', and
provided these examples:
LANDSCAPE
MEANING 74
by Jeannie Sim
Recent studies by human geographers,
architects,
art
historians,
landscape
architects, and others, have recognised the
importance of meaning or content contained
in a landscape or an art object as a
component of its character. Thereby, the
boundaries of the concept of style as a
descriptor and classification tool have been
expanded. Previously, the visual physical
form of a place was all that was considered
regarding design. Indeed, architectural
historians Hazel Conway and Rowan
Roenisch proclaimed that "Style is usually
discussed in terms of form, rarely in terms of
content."75 Content (meaning), as applied to
studying landscapes is the subject of this
section, which has direct bearing on the
description and valuing of places for
conservation purposes. A range of
authorities were investigated including
scholars
in
architecture,
landscape
architecture and cultural geography. An
attempt was made to define the term
'meaning.' The rest of the discussion is
structured around the three major
components
of
meaning:
messages,
expressions of meanings, and intentions.
When we find a meaning … it is because
we feel that it connects – intellectually,
emotionally or spiritually – with
something deep but central within us …
the symbol connects with reality and the
intention connects with the action.
Meaning, I conclude, is a sense of vital
connection.78
Applying the concept of connections to the
three senses of 'meaning,' my interpretation
of Stanford's descriptions as follows:
messages use symbols to connect ideas &
information to other people; purposes use
actions to connect product and use; and,
significance uses the intellect, emotions or
spirituality to connect values between people
and other people, or things, or places or
events. This approach to understanding
'meaning' as it could be applied to designed
landscapes was considered to be both
comprehensive in scope and simple in
structure and therefore most appropriate for
this research. Another approach to 'meaning'
and landscape was found in the work of
landscape architect Laurie Olin,
The fundamental questions concerning
meaning and landscape design are
probably the following: What sort of
meanings can a landscape convey or
hold? How do they convey or embody
these meanings? What, if any, correlation
or relationship is there between the
intention of the designer of a landscape
re: devices intended for meaning and the
subsequent interpretation, reception and
Meaning is at the core of understanding, and
different interpretations of this have been
explored recently in several disciplines. For
this study of designed landscapes in an
historical context, the interpretation offered
by historian Michael Stanford was
particularly relevant. He considered that
there were three senses to the term
'meaning,' namely: "to signify," "to intend"
and the qualities of meaningful or
74
Edited extract from: Sim, J.C.R. (1999), Chapter 3, in
"Designed Landscapes in Queensland, 1859-1939:
experimentation – adaptation – innovation." Unpublished
PhD thesis, Brisbane: QUT.
75
Conway, Hazel and Rowan Roenisch (1994),
Understanding Architecture. London/NY: Routledge. pg.
158
83
76
Stanford, Michael (1994), A Companion to the Study of
History. Oxford UK: Blackwell. pg. 280
77
History. Oxford UK: Blackwell. pg. 281. My
interpretation of his terms 'meaningful & meaningless'
are: meaningful = important, significant, valuable,
(?rare); and meaningless = nonsensical, ridiculous,
valueless, (?commonplace).
78
view.80 Such aspirations involve looking
beyond the "functional and problem solving
ethic" that typifies the American profession
of landscape architects and should involve
appreciating and learning from landscape
history. Thereby, the opportunities made
available encourage a wider repertoire of
"strategies and expressions" than those of
the fundamentalist ecology viewpoint, and
could entail a wealth of "potential content
(allegorical, iconographic, symbolic [and]
emblematic)."81 These four aspects of
content were not pursued further by Olin.
understanding of this or other meanings
by a viewer, user ... of the landscape? 79
Correlating the approaches of Stanford and
Olin, it was found that as each qualified and
extended the other which added to the
understanding of the whole concept. Olin's
first two queries about sorts of meanings and
how they are conveyed relate to Stanford's
sense of 'to signify,' but expand the scope.
Olin's final query is in essence about
intentions, as is Stanford's second sense. The
addition of significance (or value) is one that
may have been intended for inclusion in
Olin's final question, but was not made clear.
As a result of these correlations, these four
points were derived to describe 'meaning':
messages in the landscapes (meanings
signified); landscape as medium (the
conveyor or expression of meanings);
intentions (the purposes, originally and
subsequently); and, landscape values
(meaningfulness and meaninglessness).
Further examples and interpretations of
these basic components of 'meaning' are
discussed under the headings of messages
and intentions.
Another interpretation of the sorts of
meanings contained within a garden or
landscape was found in a compendium of
essays edited by Francis and Hester:
Meaning resides in the power of the
garden to express, clarify, and reconcile
oppositions and transform them into
inspirations. At any time, vastly different
oppositions may be critical. Today, they
are six oppositions that the garden
transforms into muses, the spirits that
inspire our time. These six involve faith,
power, ordering, cultural expression,
personal expression and healing …82
Messages
This description of 'meaning' attributed to
gardens (the six oppositional forces) can be
extended to include other sorts of designed
landscapes, and various sorts of cultural
landscapes.
Many scholars have provided descriptions of
the sorts of meanings signified in gardens
and landscapes. This review focuses on
identifying those ideas that are most likely to
have been influential or used in early
Queensland. The literature revealed several
key common 'messages,' few of which are
outlined here, but only the first three listed
are discussed at length below: landscape
experience; reading landscapes as texts;
applying iconographic methods to landscape
interpretation; rhetorical landscapes; and,
associational aesthetics and picturesque
interpretations. These and other types of
messages comprise the 'content' of landscape
design. Richer content (more messages)
does not imply a better product necessarily,
but the use of messages indicate aspirations
"to practice at the level of art" in Olin's
79
Interpreting landscape covers a wide field of
interest spread over several research
approaches. A primary focus for these
geographers, landscape architects, planners
and other groups has been the aesthetics of
landscape. With a growing input from
environmental psychologists, landscape
aesthetics
has
metamorphosed
into
landscape
preference:
perception
of
landscape involves the use of all the human
senses and the 'cultural baggage' of
Olin, Laurie (1988) "Form, Meaning, and Expression in
Landscape Architecture," Landscape Journal 7 (1), pg.
159
84
80
150
81
150
82
Francis, Mark and Randolph T. Hester Jr, eds. (1990),
The Meaning of Gardens: Idea, Place and Action.
Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press. pg. 10
with the intensity of the dialectical
relationship between the refuge and the
prospect or the hazard.86
individuals. Thus, the experience of
landscape includes both the human physical
senses and their cultural and social
conditioning. The following discussion
outlines some of those theories regarding
biological
perception
involved
in
experiencing and interpreting landscape.
Other researchers in this area of aesthetics
includes Rachel and Stephen Kaplan
(environmental psychologists) and Nicholas
Humphrey (animal behaviourist) according
to Bourassa, who also described their ideas
and concluded thus:
Philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) was
one of the first to expound a link between
physical perception and aesthetics.83 Dewey
also argued that these experiences were not
limited to artists or connoisseurs, but were
part of everyone's everyday experiences.
Stephen C. Bourassa examined this and
other theories that comprise "a theoretical
framework for aesthetic evaluation" in his
recent paper on architectural style.84 This
work provided a useful primer for many of
the early and current theories that
incorporate a psychological or biological
component to aesthetic theory, including
Dewey, Gaston Bachelard, Carl Jung, Jay
Appleton, Yi-Fu Tuan and others. The first
major attempt to establish a theory of
landscape aesthetics based on biological
aspects was Appleton's Habitat and
Prospect-Refuge Theories, expounded in his
The Experience of Landscape (1975).85
Bourassa provided summaries of these
particular theories:
The theories of Appleton, the Kaplans and
Humphrey are pioneering efforts toward
identification of possible biological bases
for landscape aesthetics … This
[research]
work
remains
highly
speculative, of course, because there is no
direct evidence of a genetic basis for
landscape preferences. Much work, both
speculative and experiential, remains to
be done.87
The experience of landscape is one of the
ways meaning is attached to place. Cultural
geographers, in particular, have taken up
some of the ideas from the world of literary
criticism and theory in recent times, and
applied them to interpreting landscapes.88
Duncan and Duncan suggested:
the concept of textuality, intertextuality,
and reader reception may be of
importance to those interested in the
notion that landscapes are read in much
the same way as literary texts. It is further
suggested that landscape can be seen as
texts which are transformations of
ideologies into a concrete form.89
Appleton's basic thesis is that a landscape
which appears to offer satisfaction of
biological needs is one that will also
provide aesthetic satisfaction. He calls
this idea habitat theory. Since "the ability
to see without being seen" is an important
means for achieving biological needs, that
ability is itself a sources of aesthetic
satisfaction. This part of his thesis he
labelled prospect-refuge theory. Prospectrefuge theory describes a mechanism that
protects individuals from hazards, a third
type of environmental feature which plays
an important role in Appleton's schema.
Furthermore, it seems that the aesthetic
appreciation of the refuge corresponds
83
Dewey, John (1958), Art as Experience, (first published
1934), New York: Capricorn/G. P. Putnam's Sons.
84
Bourassa, Steven C. (1989) "Postmodernism in
Architecture and Planning: What Kind of Style?," The
Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 6 (4), pp
289-304.
85
Appleton, Jay (1975), The Experience of Landscape.
London: John Wiley.
Moreover, these authors were interested in
taking the literary theory further than merely
providing
ways
to
identify
these
transformations. They considered that the
readings and authorship theories could be
"adapted to explain how landscapes are
85
86
Bourassa, Steven C. (1989) "Postmodernism in
Architecture and Planning: What Kind of Style?," The
Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 6 (4), pp
289-304. pg. 292.
87
Bourassa, Stephen C. (1994), "Landscape Aesthetics and
Criticism," in The Culture of Landscape Architecture,
Harriet Edquist and Vanessa Bird, eds. Melbourne: Edge
Publishing Committee, pp. 95-105. pg. 99
88
For instance: Barnes, Trevor J. and James S. Duncan,
eds. (1992), Writing Worlds: Discourse, text and
metaphor in the representation of landscape.
London/New York: Routledge; and, Duncan, James and
David Ley, eds. (1993), Place / Culture / Representation.
London/New York: Routledge.
89
Duncan, J. and N. Duncan (1988) "(Re) reading the
landscape," Environment and Planning D, 6. pg. 117
incorporated into social process"90 and
warned against prolonged poststructuralist
discourse as it can lead to being enveloped
among texts that "have a web-like
complexity characterised by a ceaseless play
of infinitely unstable meanings."91 Duncan
and Duncan concluded in their paper:
"Although we reject the undue emphasis on
the infinitude of meanings of the
poststructuralists, we acknowledge that
meanings are plural."92
parchment was reused, the first text being
partially or completely erased to make way
for another. Layers of meaning and layers of
design combine with layers of values to
create rich and meaningful landscapes.
Schama also wrote about 'rich deposits'
when discussing the messages and stories
'written' on the landscapes which are a
reflection of cultural beliefs and perceptions,
of cultural values and of attitudes to nature
and natural processes:
For if … our entire landscape tradition is
the product of shared culture, it is by the
same token a tradition built from the rich
deposit of myths, memories, and
obsessions. The cults which we are told to
seek in other native cultures – of the
primitive forest, of the river of life, of the
sacred mountain – are in fact alive and
well and all about us [West] if only we
know where to look for them.95
There are many ways to read the landscape.
Sometimes these different approaches are in
direct opposition to one and other.
Sometimes these are closely complementary.
Schama wrote:
While not denying the landscape may
indeed be a text on which generations
write
their
recurring
obsessions
[environmental historians] are not about
to rejoice in the fact. An arcadian idyll,
for example, seems just another pretty lie
told by propertied aristocracies (from
slave-owning Athens to slave-owning
Virginia) to disguise the ecological
consequences of their greed. Before it can
ever be a repose for the senses, landscape
is the work of the mind. Its scenery is
built up as much as from strata of memory
as from layers of rock.93
Those 'cults' as Schama calls them have
been treated only lightly in this study. The
importance of mountains, rivers and forests
to early Queenslanders, residents and
visitors, is a research topic for another day.
The analysis of cultural meanings applied to
landscapes has been explored based on the
art history technique called iconography.
Denis Cosgrove wrote that this technique
had been applied more recently in cultural
geography for landscape interpretation:
This last sentence alludes to the typical
conservation approaches which include a
fundamental acceptance of the 'layering of
time.' Kevin Lynch described this process of
layering: "as a deliberate device of esthetic
expression – the visible accumulation of
overlapping traces from successive periods,
each trace modifying and being modified by
the new additions, to produce something like
a collage of time."94 Another analogy to this
layering is to consider landscape as a
palimpsest, where writing paper or
90
Landscapes, both on the ground and
represented on various surfaces, are thus
regarded as deposits of cultural meanings.
The iconographic method seeks to explore
these meanings through describing the
form and composition of landscapes,
interpreting their symbolic content and reimmersing landscapes in their social and
historical contexts.96
Daniels and Cosgrove expand upon the use
of the term 'landscape' and its meaning here:
A landscape is a cultural image, a
pictorial way of representing, structuring
or symbolising surroundings. This is not
to say that landscapes are immaterial.
91
landscape," Environment and Planning D, 6. pg. 118;
The authors cited theorists such as Barthes and Derrida
among others.
92
95
Schama, Simon (1995), Landscape and Memory.
London: HarperCollins. pg. 14
93
London: HarperCollins. pp. 6-7
96
94
Lynch, Kevin (1993), What Time Is This Place?
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. pg. 171
Cosgrove, Denis (1994), "Iconography," In Johnston, R.
J., Derek Gregory, and David M. Smith, eds. (1994), The
Dictionary of Human Geography, 3rd ed. Oxford, UK:
Blackwell. pg. 269
86
They maybe represented in a variety of
materials and on many surfaces – in paint
on canvas, in writing on paper, in earth,
stone, water and vegetation on the
ground.97
stories and allegories", and the intrinsic
meanings or content "is comprehended by
ascertaining those underlying principles
which reveal the basic attitude of a nation, a
period, a class, a religious or philosophical
persuasion – unconsciously qualified by one
personality and condensed into one work."102
Panofsky presented a descriptive table
linking these meanings ("objects of
interpretation") with the "controlling
principle of interpretation (History of
Tradition)" and described the historical
traditions thus:
Erwin Panofsky is credited with introducing
the
term
'iconology'
to
describe
interpretation of art "in a deeper sense," and
these ideas were explained in his influential
publication on art and meaning Studies in
Iconology.98 Panofsky sought to define the
shades of meaning attached to the term
iconography and proposed a three-fold
layering to meaning attached to works of art:
the third layer being "iconology." He
proposed these layers of meaning: firstly
"the factual and the expressive meaning may
be classified together: they constitute the
class of primary or natural meanings";99
and, "secondary or conventional [meaning];
it differs from the primary or natural one in
that it is intelligible instead of being
sensible, and in that it has been consciously
imparted to the practical action by which it
is conveyed."100 The third layer he described
as
I – History of style (insight into the
manner in which, under varying
historical conditions, objects and
events were expressed by forms).
II – History of types (… under varying
historical conditions, specific themes
or concepts were expressed by objects
and events).
III – History of cultural symptoms or
'symbols' in general (insight into the
manner in which, under varying
historical
conditions,
essential
tendencies of the human mind were
expressed by specific themes and
concepts).103
the intrinsic meaning or content; it is
essential where the other kinds of
meaning, the primary or natural and the
secondary
or
conventional
are
phenomenal. It may be defined as a
unifying principle which underlies and
explains both the visible event and its
intelligible significance, and which
determines even the form in which the
visible takes shape.101
Applied to works of art, the
meanings are the "pure forms" and
motifs", the secondary meanings
"themes or concepts manifested in
97
These observations by Panofsky are useful
in conducting a multi-layered approach to
describing and interpreting landscapes.
Another art historian, Gombrich examined
iconography, iconology and symbolic
images generally and offered this appraisal
of meanings:
'meaning' is a slippery term, especially
when applied to images rather than to
statements … Images apparently occupy a
curious position somewhere between the
statements of language, which are
intended to convey a meaning, and the
things of nature, to which we can only
give a meaning.104
primary
"artistic
are the
images,
Daniels, Stephen and Denis Cosgrove (1988),
"Introduction: iconography and landscape," In Cosgrove,
Denis and Stephen Daniels, eds. The Iconography of
Landscape: Essays on the symbolic representation,
design and use of past environments. Cambridge Studies
in Historical Geography, 9. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
Uni. Press. pg. 1
98
Panofsky, Erwin (1972), Studies in Iconology:
Humanistic Themes in the art of the Renaissance. New
York: Icon/Harper & Row.
99
Panofsky, Erwin (1972), Studies in Iconology. New
York: Icon/Harper & Row. pg. 4.
100
101
87
102
York: Icon/Harper & Row. pp. 5-7.
103
York: Icon/Harper & Row. pp. 14-15. Also see the
compilation of essays by writers from a number of
professions considering and reconsidering the work of
Panofsky: Lavin ,Irving (ed.) (1995), Meaning in the
Visual Arts: Views from the Outside, A Centennial
Commemoration of Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968).
Princeton, NJ: Institute of Advanced Study.
104
Gombrich, E. H. (1972), Symbolic Images: Studies in the
art of the Renaissance. London: Phaidon. pg. 2
Laurie Olin provided a different wording for
the approaches to iconography by Panofsky
and Wittkower and their three sorts or levels
of content when he wrote: "1. The subject of
the work – that which is present or
constructed (Denoted) 2. The reference of
the work to things not present but invoked
(Connoted) 3. A mood or feeling about these
two previous things which is developed
through expression or style.105
Catherin Bull identified this multi-layering
process in this way:
Finally, there is a notable amount of
'creative networking' amongst various fields
within the worlds of art and design, which
include landscapes and gardens. These
networks comprise the influenced and the
influential, interpretations and crossreferences, and have been noted by Laurie
Olin as:
One approach to describing the 'intentions'
ascribed to landscape meaning would be to
organise them under these headings: overt
intentions (or purposes) and covert
intentions (or supplemental meanings). Most
overt intentions (the purposes that guide
design choices) are easily identified. They
are expressed in the location, connections
and meaning of elements within a building
or landscape. The covert intentions, on the
other hand, take a longer time to recognise,
due to their complexity, mutability and their
connectivity. One way of studying 'overt
intentions' (use or purpose) expressed in the
landscape was instigated by Moore, Mitchell
and Turnbull. They devised four categories
for arranging the historic gardens and
landscapes under investigation, namely:
"settings, collections, pilgrimages, and
patterns."108 This classification was based on
the identification of use or manner of use
applied to particular landscapes or gardens.
A functioning field or forest in a Brown
landscape
may
have
agricultural
production as its program, but because of
its formal arrangement it may be
experienced as an evocation of a selected
set of cultural values about the landscape
in general. That experience added a covert
function to the overt function of
'productive landscape'.107
The content of 'meaning' of many of the
most famous landscape designs of the past
often was established through the use of
works of sculpture and architecture that
already carried associations with or
recognizable references to particular ideas
and other works of art, literature,
landscape or society.106
Thus, a landscape is never an isolated
creation. It stands as the result of the culture
that produced and maintains it. It is part of a
collection of ideas, attitudes, and perceptions
about humanity, life and nature, that exist
within varying socio-political contexts.
Whether the landscape is 'designed' or
created for agricultural, forestry, mining or
other purpose, this contextual reality
remains applicable.
Moore et al described "settings" as having
"some affinities to metaphor in literature, are
places where the relationship of things is so
moving or so clear that the rest of the world
is illuminated for us."109 Therefore, the
setting can act as a medium to convey ideas
or messages about the human condition, life
and meaning. These are settings for
meditative, reflective activities, among a
variety of other more prosaic functions.
Intentions
Meanings attributed to designed landscapes
can occur as part of the 'cultural baggage' of
the original designer, builder, owner, user
and gardener, and be layered thereafter by
subsequent 'stakeholders' (be they directly
involved or on the periphery). A similar
layering occurs in other sorts of cultural
landscapes, and between these sorts.
105
106
Landscape Architecture," Landscape Journal 7 (1), pp.
160-1.
160
88
107
Bull, Catherin (1996), "A Purposeful Aesthetic? Valuing
Landscape Style and Meaning in the Ecological Age,"
Landscape Australia 18 (2, February), pp. 24-30. pg.26
108
Moore, Charles W. et al (1989), The Poetics of Gardens.
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 49
109
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 49. [Their examples of
settings included: Uluru (Australia), Ryoan-ji (Japan),
Capability Brown's Parks (Eng.), Isola Bella (Italy), and
Bali. pp. 51-79]
They wrote: "If settings are metaphors,
collections might be seen as metonymies,
made of fragments and relics that evoke
their origins. Nature occasionally collects
startling arrays of natural wonders at some
special spot, but collection is mostly a
human game."110 The human game of
collecting is one that has direct connections
to Australia and Queensland. The impulse to
collect arguably reached its zenith during the
19th
century.111
"Pilgrimages"
were
considered thus: "Some great gardens unfold
like a narrative or a piece of music as we
move through them and view their carefully
choreographed wonders. [Pilgrimages] occur
in nature, too, at places where devotees
journey to see some sacred spot."112 The
journey and the effort to reach the special
place is part of the experience of that
landscape as a whole. Journeys that are
allegories are also included here, such as
Stourhead and Rousham. "Patterns" in
gardens "are laid out in geometric shapes
and express visions of order – of symmetry
about a center or an axis, perhaps, or of
regular, repetitive rhythm. These have
affinities with verse, in which meter and
rhyme create patterns of sound."113
and classify landscape. Their classification
system is a composite of use, form and
meaning, albeit only superficially explored.
They concluded that there are many ways of
interpreting the meaning of landscapes,
calling on literary terms thus: "We may read
a text for its metaphoric and metonymic
content, for rhyme and meter, or for
narrative structure. Each way of reading
reveals different aspects of the text's form
and meaning. So it is with gardens."114
Underscoring all these descriptions and
analyses was this simple but powerful
observation: "Nature's places, no matter how
beautiful and moving we find them to be, are
not yet gardens; they become gardens only
when shaped by our actions and engaged
with our dreams."115 What is not revealed
here is the distinction between a natural
landscape with an applied meaning and the
threshold over which makes it a 'garden'.
Aspects of recent research and practice in
the conservation field in Australia has
entailed defining 'social values' which
embody some of the 'covert intentions' being
discussed here. Johnston considered that the
central idea of social value was "attachment
to place."116 Other 'covert intentions' are less
concerned with attachment or emotional
responses to meanings, for instance, the
representation of power and status. These
kinds of intentions were addressed by
Francis and Hester with their identification
of 'forces' of meaning ("faith, power,
ordering, cultural expression, personal
expression and healing").117 While these six
areas include most of the possible intentions
people have towards 'place' and 'landscape'.
Meanings attributed to nature in particular
appeared relevant here.
In summary, settings are metaphors,
collections are metonyms, pilgrimages are
narratives and patterns are verse. Moore et
al used landscape and literature to explain
110
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 49. [Their examples of
collections included: Death Valley (USA), Hadrian's
Villa at Tivoli (Italy), Yuan Ming Yuan (China),
Disneyland at Anaheim (USA), Summer Palace (China),
Katsura Imperial Villa (Japan), Sissinghurst (England),
and some botanical gardens (European and Sydney,
Australia). pp. 79-117]
111
The extensive nature of this 'drive to collect' indicates
that it may represent another 'biological' basis to
aesthetic appreciation akin to Appleton's theories.
112
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 50. Their examples of
pilgrimages included: Amarnath Shrine (Java),
Lamayuru (Kashmir), Rousham (England), Stourhead
(England), Villa Lante (Italy), Safavid Isfahan (Iran), and
the Forbidden City (Beijing, China). pp. 117-157]
113
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 50. Their examples of
patterns included: Ram Bagh at Agra (India), Lake Dal
& adjacent gardens: Shalamar Bagh, Nishat Bagh
(Kashmir), Mughul tomb gardens: Humayan's, Akbar's,
Taj Mahal, etc. (India), The Alhambra & The Generalife
(Spain), Vaux-le-Vicomte (France), and Studley Royal
(England). pp. 158-205]
89
114
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. pg. 50.
115
Cambridge, Mass: MIT. Preface.
116
Johnston, Chris (1992), What is Social Value? A
Discussion Paper. Technical Publications Series, 3.
Canberra: Australian Heritage Commission / AGPS. pg.
7.
117
The Meaning of Gardens. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
pg. 10
Nature and natural processes are still the
'core activity' associated with gardens,
designed landscapes and many cultural
landscapes (directly or indirectly). Grove
identified several concepts ('icons') revered
and desired about the natural world in his
study of European colonial expansion: "two
symbolic (or even totemic) forms seem to
have proved central to the task of giving a
meaning and a epistemology to the natural
world and to western interactions with it.
These are the physical or textual garden and
the island."118 Such interactions between
European settlers and the 'natural' world of
Australia are relevant to this study. The
making of new landscapes was (and is)
bound up with the perceptions of
surrounding environments and the objectives
(imagined and material) of the proposed new
developments. Grove explained his use of
the terms 'garden' and 'island' thus:
Schama provided a reminder that the
'cultural imprint' on nature has not always
been welcomed among scholars. He was
referring to some early environmentalists
(and some practising now) who perceive
nature as pure and good, and people as
sordid and bad, which is a form of cultural
meaning attached to nature (and by
extension, landscape): "Even the landscape
we suppose to be free of our culture may
turn out to be on closer inspection, to be its
product. And it is the argument of
Landscape and Memory [his book] that this
is a cause not for guilt and sorrow but
celebration."120 Such a shift in attitude marks
a new age of interpreting landscapes.
From
an
historian,
writing
about
historiography came another observation on
the identification of meanings and
implications. Stanford considered the
'narrative' as an important part of the
repertoire of the historian and added this
observation about the time-lag required
between 'event' and the writing of a history:
"We cannot grasp the full significance till
we can tell the whole story – when we
employ the wisdom of hindsight."121 Such
'wisdom' may be only possible after several
scholars have fed from the trough, making a
collection of interpretations and reinterpretations of the data.
The garden and the island enabled
newness to be dealt with within familiar
bounds but simultaneously allowed and
stimulated an experiencing of the
empirical in circumscribed terms. The
garden organised the unfamiliar in terms
of species. The tropical island allowed the
experiencing of unfamiliar processes in a
heightened sense, both because of the
symbolic role which the island was
expected to perform and because of the
first rate geomorphic change in the
tropics. The landscapes of island and
garden were metaphors of mind.119
Landscape Values
The common saying "I may not know
anything about Art, but I know what I like!"
says much about the way people apply
significance, whether to things, places and
even other people. The emotional response
is not the province of the intellectual
aesthete alone: everyone can (and should)
have the right to hold an opinion and express
it. 'Value' is a human construct – part of the
broad area of 'meaning' associated with
human beings conferring significance on
places and things. This process of conferring
significance can involve value judgements,
scientific logic, economic rationalisations or
The promotion of imagined reality over
physical reality is perhaps strongest when
the physical is relatively unfamiliar (even
hostile), as with the experiences of new
settlers in colonies distant from their 'mother
country'. Such interpretations of the world
are based on the notion of making the
unfamiliar knowable (and conquerable), yet
the images of island and garden evoked (and
still evoke) exotic qualities that added extra
promise, an exciting contrast for the intrepid
traveller, explorer or settler.
118
119
Grove, Richard H. (1996), Green Imperialism: Colonial
Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of
Environmentalism, 1600-1860. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. pg. 13
Grove, Richard H. (1996), Green Imperialism.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg. 14
90
120
London: HarperCollins. pg. 9
121
is that the environment and world around
us as one perceived it never presents a
neutral picture. It is filled with all sort of
ideas, notions, feelings, biases and
prejudices in which the "cultural baggage"
forms a fundamental influence.122
pure guesswork, either singly or in various
combinations.
For the purpose of this theoretical
investigation, valuing landscapes entailed
two essential aspects: appreciating the
landscape and assessing the value of the
landscape. These aspects are both mutually
dependent and influential. Appreciation of
the landscape is reflected in artistic
endeavours and expressions which in turn
become influential factors on landscape
design and its appreciation. Traditionally,
the assessment of landscape values was a
principal duty of conservation practitioners,
but this activity has gradually widened to
include community consultation within the
assessment process. The assessment of
landscape significance is not pursued further
here, but focuses on acquiring suitable
theoretical information on the appreciation
of landscapes that could be applied to
understanding
Queensland's
designed
landscapes in particular, and cultural
landscapes generally.
The 'cultural baggage' that Savage alludes to
here, is behind all the valuing that humans
undertake. All sorts of beliefs and ideals are
involved, as well as moral and aesthetic
issues.
As
Australian
conservation
practitioners Pearson and Sullivan noted:
"the past does not exist, except in our
present understanding of it, and this
understanding is rooted in our ideology and
culture." 123
Within the conservation and built
environment research fields, several early
scholars provided descriptions of the
essential and fundamental values that are
applied to landscape. A comparative review
of these leading authorities reveals a
consistent thread connecting all their works,
namely, that significant historic places have
value to contemporary society and
individuals, and in a number of ways. The
major ideas of these authorities are listed
here briefly to demonstrate this point.
Landscape appreciation is one of the key
themes in many forms of literature and the
fine arts. The history of describing and
finding value in the landscapes (whether
more natural or cultural in character) is
almost as old as gardening itself. The term
'appreciating' is used here to denote a
positive response, a valuing of landscape.
There are many travel accounts describing
the landscape of Australia, as in other parts
of the world 'explored' by colonial
Europeans in the last few centuries. The
unusual and bizarre, the huge and mighty,
and the delicate and beautiful, have all
featured in these accounts. Perceiving the
landscape is the first step in appreciating it,
and perception has many components and
pathways. Victor Savage defined the term
'landscape,'
Many of the basic principles of conservation
theory and practice were examined by John
Harvey in 1972, including recognising that
individual buildings always exist in some
context (urban or rural setting) and values
which he summarised into three "different
kinds of positive value contributed by old
buildings to society", namely,
as "a work of art" – in the case of "great or
exceptional buildings"124
for "permanence" – or sense of stability: "a
building which has existed since before
in a broader sense to cover the total
sensually perceptible features of a
person's experience at a particular place
and time. It concerns the morphology of
attributes that are seen, heard, smelt,
tasted and felt. This is essentially a
subjective perception that is moral and
aesthetic … The point that is being made
91
122
Savage, Victor R. (1984), Western Impressions of Nature
and Landscape in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Singapore
University Press. pp. 12-13, 14
123
Pearson, Michael and Sharon Sullivan (1995), Looking
After Places: The Basics of Heritage Planning for
Managers, Landowners and Administrators. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press. pg. 168
124
Harvey, John (1972), Conservation of Buildings.
London: John Baker. pg. 18
Effective action and inner well-being
depend on a strong image of time: a vivid
sense of the present, well connected to
future and past, perceptive of change, able
to manage and enjoy it. That concept of
time must be consonant both with the
structure of reality and with the structure
of our minds and bodies. I have argued
that the form of the environment – the
distribution of objects and activities in
space and times – can encourage the
growth of a strong image of time, can
support and enrich it.130
memory of those now alive provides an
anchorage"125
for "consonance" – or local distinctiveness:
"All buildings put up before c. 1900
tended to vary largely according to local
materials used and to display regional
qualities in their design. This applied to
works of architecture and not merely to
the vernacular products of continuous
tradition."126
Harvey supplements and qualifies this list,
stating "that there are two main kinds [of
values]: the transcendent or spiritual, to be
appreciated by all men and women of
culture; and the material and financial,
appealing to instincts of economy and
thrift."127 Harvey intended that the first three
kinds of value emphasised above, were all
within the "transcendental or spiritual" sorts
of values mentioned here. The important
point Harvey made in this work is that such
values are not just recent concoctions.
People have been applying values and
protecting buildings for centuries, which is
why we still have old buildings today.
Reference to the histories of the cultural
conservation movement also support his
observation.128
Harvey's 'permanence' is related to Lynch's
'image of time': both are representations of
applied
value
related
to
human
psychological
well-being
and
the
combination of all four dimensions
(comprising space and time). Yi-Fu Tuan
also wrote of people valuing place and his
term 'topophilia' has become widely
recognised within the cultural geography
discipline. Tuan defined this term thus:
"Topophilia is the affective bond between
people and place or setting" and further
explained as follows:131
These [ties between human beings and the
material environment] differ greatly in
intensity, subtlety, and mode of
expression … Topophilia is not the
strongest of human emotions. When it is
compelling we can be sure that the place
… has become the carrier of emotionally
charged events or perceived as a
symbol.132
In What Time is This Place?, Lynch touches
on many other aspects concerning the
perception and valuing of the built
environment. He proposes that conservation
should not be just "preserving the past," that
it should be a healthy balance of reuse,
adaptation and "keeping a stock of
developable space and other environmental
reserves."129 Particularly relevant to this
study is Lynch's argument that:
125
126
127
128
Among the leading authorities are: Fawcett, Jane, ed.
(1976), The Future of the Past: Attitudes to Conservation
1174-1974. London: Thames & Hudson; Erder, Cevat
(1986), Our Architectural Heritage: from consciousness
to conservation. Museums and Monuments, XX. Paris:
UNESCO; and concerning Australia, Rickard, John and
Peter Spearritt (1991) "Packaging the Past? Public
Histories," Australian Historical Studies 24, (96). Melb.:
Melb. Uni. Press.
129
According to Cosgrove, topophilia included
both positive and negative feelings about
place and landscape, describing this range
thus:
92
130
131
Tuan, Yi-Fu (1974), Topophilia: A study of
environmental perception, attitudes, and values. New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall. pg. 4. Other works: Tuan, Yi-Fu
(1977), Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience.
London: Edward Arnold.
132
Tuan, Yi-Fu (1974), Topophilia. New Jersey: PrenticeHall. pg. 93 ; "topophilia Literally, love of PLACE. The
term was introduced into geography by Yi-Fu Tuan
(1961) from its original use by the French
phenomenologist Gaston Bachelard in La Poetique de
l'espace (1958), who coined it with reference to the sense
of poetic reverie stimulated by our affective ties to the
elemental world and emotionally charged places."
[Source: Cosgrove, Denis, " Topophilia," In Johnston,
R.J. et al, eds. (1994), The Dictionary of Human
Geography, 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pg. 633]
Topophilia gestures towards aesthetic,
sensual, nostalgic and utopian aspects of
geographical awareness and investigation.
It is thus an important dimension of the
symbolic significance of places and
landscapes … Although topophilia refers
primarily to positive emotions about the
world, the concept encompasses the entire
range of feelings about places, landscapes
and environments, including fear, dread
and loathing.133
seek
to
understand
landscape.136
J.B. Jackson considered the origins of the
word 'garden' and found a continuous link
between house and gardens, place, people
and meaning:
The garden is a type of the sacred place
… sacred places are the location of
hierophany [sacred appearance or
manifestation]. A grove, a spring, a rock,
or a mountain acquires sacred character
wherever it is identified with some form
of divine manifestation or with an event
of overpowering significance.134
Hortus derives from gher, and one is
struck by the fact that the concept of
garden was, in the early days, closely
involved with the concepts of family or
household, of property, of defence, and
even of community layout, and though the
becomes more closely identified in the
course of centuries with the growing of
plants, we can never entirely divorce the
garden from its social meaning; when we
do so, run the risk of defining the garden
in strictly esthetic or ecological terms –
which is what many people are doing
now.137
Many religious and spiritual beliefs remain
in cultures around the world, and many
would relate to Tuan's description of a
sacred place. As western society diversifies
from the traditional single Christian outlook,
'sacredness' can take many forms.
Environmental researcher and designer,
Randy
Hester,
developed
a
term
'subconscious landscapes of the heart' to
describe the sacred places of urban
communities.135 He uses the term 'sacred
structures' for the process of identifying the
commonly valued places (and things) within
communities, and recording them on maps.
Hester's revelation about spatial values being
"more useful to designers than our present
idea of landscape aesthetics" coincides with
the views of many scholars in cultural
geography and landscape architecture, who
Cosgrove, Denis (1994), " Topophilia," In Johnston, R.
J., Derek Gregory, and David M. Smith, eds. (1994), The
Dictionary of Human Geography, 3rd ed. Oxford, UK:
Blackwell. pg. 634
134
Tuan, Yi-Fu (1974), Topophilia. New Jersey: PrenticeHall. pg. 146
135
Hester, Randy (1985) "Subconscious Landscapes of the
Heart," Places 2 (3), pp. 10-22. pg. 10
and
For the historian, the problem of identifying
'sacred places' is that the original people
involved with historic values are not
available for interview and consultation; one
must rely on historic accounts, both
published and private documents. No doubt
many places (particularly those rapidly
changing transitional places) cannot be
identified in this sort of research, but at least
the search targets are recognised now (if
only in broad outline), and should result in
some success.
The range of values which human beings
attach to place has at one extreme places that
are 'sacred,' which are arguably the most
highly regarded of all. Tuan uses this term in
the traditional manner, as would an
anthropologist:
133
meaning
Gardens and meaning – these rich, multifaceted terms are more readily recognised
for their layers of interpretation than in 1980
when Jackson wrote these words. For
instance, the recent publication compiled by
Francis and Hester was a celebration of the
great variety of meaning attached to gardens
by all sorts of people (including academics,
designers, and the general public). They
93
136
Hester, Randy (1985) "Subconscious Landscapes of the
Heart," Places 2 (3), pp. 10-22. pg. 11
137
Jackson, John Brinckerhoff (1980), The Necessity for
Ruins and other topics. Amherst, USA: University of
Massachusetts Press. pg. 21. Reference to an
etymological study of the word 'garden' reveals that in
Indo-European gher meant 'fence' and ghort meant
'enclosure.' The descendants of these words included the
Latin hortus meaning 'garden.' [Source: van ErpHoutepen, Anne (1986), "The etymological origin of the
garden," Journal of Garden History 6 (3), pp. 227-31.]
observed the range of meanings (and values)
that a landscape place may possess:
This goal of a combined social and
ecological conservation ethic appears the
most sensible and desirable way forward,
with history as the vehicle for that
development. For the purposes of this study,
history was viewed as 'events in context'; the
components of context being time, social,
political, economic, spiritual, artistic and
ecological circumstances, among other
things. This review of the large and steadily
growing field of literature on landscape
meaning has been necessarily broad and
selective. It provides a preliminary
theoretical background in this field.
Reference to the final chapter (on
phenomenology) augments this theoretical
understanding.
The power of the garden lies in its
simultaneous existence as an idea, a place,
and an action. While each has value as a
way of thinking about gardens, viewing
them together offers a deeper, more
holistic perspective on garden meaning …
The garden exists not only as an idea of a
place or an action but as a complex
ecology of spatial reality, cognitive
process, and real work.138
These three components of garden (or
designed landscape) meaning were part of
the research framework – ideas that were
used as targets in the data searches of
Queensland garden literature.
Environmental historians are also providing
layers of interpretation about landscape
meaning that complement previous scholars'
work. Leading writers here include Richard
Mabey and Oliver Rackham (describing
British landscapes) and Tom Griffiths and
Stephen Dovers (describing the Australian
situation), among many others. Mabey was
mentioned particularly by Griffiths, who
repeated his advice in this way:
You can get too preoccupied with the
exotic and rare … In some cases, it is just
as important that we maintain local
associations or regional variety or natural
abundance … conservation – whether of
natural or cultural heritage – is
legitimately about familiarity, personal
values and meanings, local knowledge
and
associations.
Historians
and
ecologists would agree that conservation
is concerned ultimately with intimate
relationships, human and non-human.
History – that stubbornly contextual and
relativist craft – may be the tool that
enables us to grope for a conservation
ethic that is social as well as ecological.139
138
The Meaning of Gardens: Idea, Place and Action.
Cambridge, MA/London: MIT Press. pg. 8
139
Griffiths, Tom (1996), Hunters and Collectors: The
Antiquarian Imagination in Australia. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. pp. 276-277. Concerning
'intimate relationships' Griffiths cites: Tokar, Brian
(1988), "Social Ecology, Deep Ecology and the Future of
Green Political Thought", The Ecologist, vol. 18, no. 4/5,
1988, pp. 132-141 (see pg. 139). Among Mabey's works,
this is his most well known: Mabey, Richard (1980), The
Common Ground: A Place for Nature in Britain's Future?
London: Hutchinson.
94
6
PEOPLE AND LANDSCAPE
the Australian context
Several theories about Australian perception have been published recently, from a wide
selection of disciplines including history, cultural studies and literature. The following brief
review discusses several of these and how they relate to understanding Queensland's cultural
landscape. Most of these theories attempt to interpret the way we (as Australians or as
Queenslanders) perceive ourselves and our place in the world. These 'self-visions' are part of
what the environmental psychologists call the 'cultural influences' on environmental perception,
and what some historians have described as 'cultural baggage'.
The first sources of these outlooks places Australia as part of the New World phenomenon,
including the influence of distance and isolation on Australian development and self-awareness,
and further comparison between European and antipodean visions. These sources may be seen
as part of the Australian zeitgeist of the late 20th century: J. Powell's New World visions,
Geoffrey Blainey's 'tyranny of distance' and Bernard Smith's 'antipodean/European' visions.140
The second source of ideas about the Australian landscape focuses on cultural landscape
interpretation through the arts: literature, poetry, the visual arts. These sources were located in
the influential work edited by George Seddon and Mari Davis, Man and Landscapes in
Australia: towards an ecological vision.141 The third set of sources presents a distinctly
Queensland vision of the landscape: beginning with attitudes to Nature before WW2 and then
the personal interpretations of being a Queenslander provided by author Thea Astley and
journalist Julianne Schultz. These different outlooks on the Australian and Queensland
landscape reveal a wide range of beliefs and perceptions held by various, often simultaneously.
None are discounted here as irrelevant; instead they are evidence of the diversity that is the
reality of cultural landscape interpretation.
140
The term zeitgeist has been defined as: "German word meaning literally 'the Spirit of the Time (or Age)'. It is associated with
attempts to epitomize the mode of thought or feeling deemed fundamentally characteristic of a particular period, e.g. to interpret
the 19th century as an age of 'heroic materialism' (Kenneth Clark). The term was first regularly employed by the German
Romantics … Tempted always to reduce the past to essences, they often treated the Zeitgeist less as a conceptual instrument
than as a grandiose historical character in its own right. Most historians handle the term with caution on the grounds that the
characteristics of any historical period are more complex than a formulation of a Zeitgeist can suggest." [Source: Bullock, Alan,
Oliver Stallybrass, and Stephen Trombley, eds. (1988), The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. London:
Fontana/HarperCollins, pg. 916]
141
Seddon, George and Mari Davis, eds. (1976), Man and Landscape in Australia: towards an ecological vision. Papers from a
symposium held at the Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 30 May-2 June 1974. Australian UNESCO Committee for
Man and the Biosphere, 2. Canberra: AGPS.
95
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: New World Visions
particularly as his philosophy was suitable
for pioneering societies. A little less than
100 years later, 6 years before the settlement
in NSW, Professor William Ogilvie of Kings
College, Aberdeen, published a case for
"The Right of Property in Land" in which he
argued for the importance of owning and
cultivating land. This became influential in
the perception that the early settlement of
Australia could fulfil such aspirations.
Ogilvie (in Powell 1978:47) argued that
PERCEPTIONS OF
AUSTRALIA AS A NEW
WORLD
Notes by Helen Armstrong.
A chronological account of perceptions of
Australia and their effect on settlement was
found in J. Powell (1978), Mirrors of the
New World. The earliest settlements in
Australia (1780s) can be seen within the
global context.
cultivation was good for the soul, and
made valuable citizens: absentee use
and/or
ownership
should
be
discouraged… Emigration should be
positively encouraged by old World
governments; in the great new territories
conditions were obviously optimal for the
establishment of more enlightened
concepts of the rights and responsibilities
in land than could ever be found in
Europe.
During the 1780s the agrarianism and
ruralism of the Physiocrats gradually
declined as an ingredient in the image of
America, which then became based upon
two distinct concepts. The first favoured a
Rousseauian emphasis, arguing that the
young American nation had united its
simplicity, virtue, equality and liberty
with a standard of enlightenment more
characteristic of a mature people. The
second
was
the
Progressionists'
contention that America was the
forerunner of a new age in which man
would advance to perfection. As events in
France moved towards revolution, the
image of America was very quickly
transformed from a philosophical symbol
to a political slogan; in the process
America also came to be seen as a
peaceful asylum for troubled Europeans
(Powell 1978:37).
Arcady in Australia: 1840s on.
From the 1840s, the abundance of natural
resources was another recurring theme.
Powell (1978:32) stated that this was an
attitude shared in other colonies or former
European colonies (e.g. USA) and that the
"grand destiny of the New World countries
was said to be assured by their bountiful
resources." Australia was viewed similarly.
Powell (1978:33) cited the Illustrated
London News 22 December 1849 discussion
about the ancient continent of Australia:
Who shall fix the bounds of the future
prosperity of the great Australian
continent? While in this old country the
pauper vegetates or dies, accursed of the
land that produced him, in that new
country the pauper becomes a labourer; he
no longer vegetates but lives; and if he
lives long enough, he may become a
patriarch, sitting under the shade of his
own fig-tree, and counting by thousands
and tens of thousands his flocks and herds
– a new Job in a land of plenty. Fertile
soils, delicious climate, elbow room, and
freedom from taxation – these are the
blessings of the Australian. The
Englishman enjoys the first two in an
imperfect manner; the last are aliens – he
knows them not, and will never know
them while England holds her place
among the nations.
Australia 1788:
a Cesspool of Depravity.
The views of Australia, by Britain in
particular, changed from the late 18th century
"Australia as a small and incredibly distant
cesspool of depravity" to the middle 19th
century "a veritable Arcady, in which the
Golden Age of rural prosperity and
individual dignity might be captured"
(Powell 1978:71). The importance of
agriculture (the land) and national image
became paramount. Locke (1632-1704) had
argued that land was the common stock of
society to which every person possessed a
fundamental right. His opinions influenced
perceptions about the New World
96
…economic ambitions were paramount in
the motives of many British emigrants…
especially farmers and farmers' sons…
The simple prospect of land ownership
naturally suggested that more of the profit
was bound to accrue to them as ownerproducers… But the most frequently
mentioned goal was independence, which
was usually associated with farming one's
own piece of land… This motivation was
peculiarly related to a faith in self
sufficiency and a desire for leisure…
The vision of 'Arcady in Australia' was well
entrenched by the 1860s through to the
1880s. The comparison with urban problems
in Europe made the vision of an Arcadian
future in Australia even more appealing.
Powell (1978:34) describes,
…where the New World was concerned,
the advantages of its great clean slate
slowly became apparent and served very
well indeed to empathize the ills of
Europe, while at the same time suggesting
opportunities for some experimentation
with new equations to express a happier
relationship between land and society.
Aldous Huxley (1955) wrote in Heaven and
Hell about the attitudes to the Old World
and New World:
Lansbury(1970) in her study, Arcady in
Australia, declared that it "was becoming
increasingly true that Pickwick's England
was the historical past for most Englishmen,
and it was this idealised past which Samuel
Sidney and Caroline Chisholm hoped to
establish in Australia" (cited in Powell
1978:72). By the 1880s, a particular
Antipodean flavour was attached to this
vision of Arcady, but in the interim: "while
the mass of the Australian population
continued to pursue a very simple utilitarian
dream, British images of Australia's present
and future became inextricably linked to
reactions to changing conditions in the
mother country, particularly its Arcadian
virtue as a ready-made paradise for British
workers" (Powell 1978:70-71).
A man consists of what I may call an Old
World of personal consciousness and,
beyond a divided sea, a series of New
Worlds – the not too distant Virginias and
Carolinas of the personal subconscious
and the vegetal soul; the Far West of
collective unconscious, with its flora of
symbols, its tribes of Aboriginal
archetypes; and, across another, vaster
ocean, at the Antipodes of everyday
consciousness, the World of Visionary
Experience… some
people never
consciously discover their Antipodes.
Others make an occasional landing. Yet
others (but they are few) find it easy to go
and come as they please (cited in Powell
1978:14).
The Continuing Myth:
El Dorado and Arcadia.
Powell (1978:36) notes that communication
between Australia and Britain worked both
ways, especially from the 1890s and the
1920s. He states "Obviously ideas as well as
people crossed the world during the great
international migrations and those ideas did
not necessarily require a massive
transplanting of people. The Old World and
the New were always bound together:
observing and recording each other, held
together in close mutual tension in so many
ways".
In the 1850s, Sidney's The Three Colonies of
Australia: New South Wales, Victoria and
South Australia (1852) was very popular in
Britain. In this book, he scattered numerous
descriptions of how industrious people could
make peaceful and fulfilling lives,
[W]here every striving man who rears a
race of industrious children, may sit under
the shadow of his own vine and his own
fig tree – not without work, but with little
care – living on his own land, looking
down to the valleys to his herds – towards
the hills to his flocks, amid the humming
of bees, which know no winters ( as cited
in Powell, 1978:73).
Australia was a prominent destination during
the 1850s gold boom and during 1870s1880s. After World War I Australia and
Canada moved ahead of USA for preferred
destination
for
British
migrants.
Powell.1978:44 noted:
Another writer of the 1850s, Henry
Kingsley, continued to spread the Australian
myth to British readers. In the Recollections
of Geoffrey Hamlyn he wrote
97
Australia was the Arcadian settlement of
verdant plains and wooded heights,
seamed with gold, where small farmers
dwelt in rustic content supplying food to
the diggers. The young pastoralists
galloped freely through the bush, no whit
different in appearance from the humblest
shedhand or shearer (as cited in Powell,
1978:73).
progressed beyond the main shopping street'
(Powell, 1978:80).
Powell indicates that 'back to the land'
movements have ebbed and flowed
throughout the 20th century, with large land
holders having a strong political influence in
government. Despite the persistence of large
landowners controlling land subdivision, the
yeoman myth continued to have appeal.
Powell suggest this confirmed perceptions
about Australia as having land as 'a bountiful
resource' (Powell, 1978:82).
Romanticising Wilderness and the
Bush
The shift in perception from the need to
tame the 'bush' to one which involved a
sense of identification with the Australian
natural environment, began in the 1880s and
was quite deeply ingrained by the 1920s.
Powell feels this assisted Australian to come
to terms with the strange landscape, however
most of the 'bush' focus was in local
literature rather than the overseas
perceptions.
Australia as a Resort
Powell points out that the environmental
differences between Great Britain and
Australia occasionally resulted in a mutually
attractive interpretation. He (1978:129)
suggests
One example of this was a neoclassical
interpretation of the connection between
climate and health which led to an
assertion that the Australian climate
provided the most effective cure for
'consumption'.
Overseas perceptions in the 19th and early
20th century instead saw 'wilderness' as
being embodied in the New World. This
concept was initiated in North America with
the work of Thoreau and Olmstead and
rapidly gained credence in Australia through
the early establishment of National Parks.
This perception of the health giving qualities
of the Australian environment was
reinforced by the recuperative value of long
sea voyages. Powell (1978:130) states
The Yeoman Myth
For Australia, the cult of the ocean
voyage contributed to a new appraisal: its
remote location was said to offer the
invalid a long sea voyage and southern
regions of the continent might prove to be
genuine havens to accelerate the recovery
of British consumptives.
The perception in Britain that Australia,
unlike North America, would be a land of
small farmers had not been realised because
of the massive land grabs by the squatters.
As a result, there was a strong push to
achieve land reform after the gold was
depleted. Powell indicates that there was a
desire to achieve reform through 'throwing
open the big sheep and cattle stations then
held under short term tenure they would
create "a little England in Australia"'
(Powell, 1978:74). Land Acts of the 1860s
were prompted by British tastes in landscape
an image of 'small fields, intensively
cultivated … an inherited political and
philosophical ideal for which small
freeholders had become the symbol' (Powell,
1978:76). Unlike North America, the
established large land holders subverted
attempts to establish small selections around
a village. As a result towns 'scarcely
To summarise, these perceptions of
Australia were clearly those seen from a
colonising authority in another land. The
perceptions were generated more by the
needs of the Old World, than the reality of
life in the New World. The following review
contrasts these perceptions with those from
within Australia.
References:
Powell, J. (1978), Mirrors of the New World: images and
image-makers in the settlement process. Studies
in Historical Geography. Canberra: ANU Press.
98
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Distance & Isolation
early Queensland newspapers has revealed a
wealth of up-to-date information being
published that indicates that local settlers
could be much more well informed than at
first supposed: perhaps the communication
between 'Mother England' and Australia
wasn't so bad; perhaps, with the variety and
spread of publications, Australia wasn't
'thirty years behind the times'. The
development of new technologies has
continued the trend of communication and
Queensland (and Australia) can be observed
to be at the forefront of many of them:
telegraph, wireless radio, transceiver radios,
aeroplanes, and air-services (Flying Doctor
Service, mail deliveries), solar-powered
public telephones, computers and the
Internet.
Communication
between
neighbours and the wider outside world is
the key factor here. Nonetheless, distance
and the perception of isolation (both real and
imagined) are important components of the
national identity and Australian history. It is
my contention that communication and
transport are a double act in the fight against
distance. Distance can also be a pleasurable
and desirable quality. This is particularly so
for those with a romantic or scientific quest
for wilderness and the authentic natural
experience (including eco-tourists). Those
wanting to establish new lifestyles, new
social structures (egalitarian or totalitarian),
new religious groups are drawn to the
opportunities of space and isolation. In
comparison to this interpretation of Blainey's
theory, the following extract is taken from
teaching material prepared by Dr. John
Minnery for a Built Environment History
unit at QUT.
DISTANCE AND
ISOLATION
Notes by Jeannie Sim
Geoffrey Blainey's ideas about the 'tyranny
of distance' and its effect on the course of
Australian history and cultural selfperception has been profound, although
somewhat like a self-fulfilling prophesy. His
influential book was first published in 1966.
In the preface (1974:viii), he wrote:
Australians have always recognized that
distance or isolation was one of the
moulds which shaped their history … It
seemed [after completing the book] that
distance was a central and unifying factor
in Australia's history. At the same time it
was not the only one, and if this book
gives the impression that climate and
resources and European ideas and wars
and markets and money and other
moulding influences were unimportant
than it is unintentionally distorting
history.
Blainey (1974:ix) considered the idea of
distance as part of Australia's history could
be "as revealing as Frederick Jackson
Turner's 'frontier theory' is in probing the
history of the United States." Blainey
(1974:viii) contended that the fact of
distance is everywhere for Australians:
being "at least 12,000 miles from western
Europe, the source of most of their people,
equipment, institutions and ideas" and with a
coastline over 12,000 miles in length. Smith
also observed this European influence and is
discussed in the following section.
Queenslanders are part of this zeitgeist, only
sometimes the feeling of distance and
isolation is more extreme, being far from the
southern, decision-making cities of SydneyCanberra-Melbourne, or far from the capital
Brisbane, in the far south east of the State.
Later discussion by Astley and Schultz deal
with this phenomenon.
Australia and the Tyranny of Distance
Distance is a central and unifying factor in
European Australia's history, and also had
influences in Aboriginal Australia. Distance
in as characteristic of Australia as mountains
are of Switzerland. Australia is 19,000km
from Western Europe, the source of most of
our people, ideas, institutions and
equipment. Australia has 19,000km of
coastline. Aboriginal settlers probably
migrated from the north and covered the vast
distances of the continent as they spread, but
became isolated from Asia, as well as
What seems perplexing about Blainey's
'distance theory', as described in his book, is
the concentration on transport as the primary
tool for taming distance. Recent studies of
99
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Distance & Isolation
changing as that moved across the distances
involved. Distance is not the sole
explanation of Australia's history. There is
also climate, resources, ideas, markets,
money, people and so on. But it has had a
strong impact. Distance's great enemy is
efficient, cheap and fast transport. Transport
and distance are the two faces of the
development coin if the country. One aspect
of distance is location, the location of one
place in relation to others. This has also been
a major influence on the history of Australia.
(it takes from time to plant and grow
vegetables and fruit). A corollary is the
cultural isolation of the settlers from the
Aborigines, for they could have utilised the
food growing in the bush. In June 1788,
ships were sent to Lord Howe Island to get
turtles for food. In September 1788, the ship
Sirius was sent to buy supplies from Cape
Town – it was told to go via Tasmania, but
that meant trying to go westwards into the
westerly winds of the 'Roaring Forties' so it
sailed around the world and got to Cape
Town in three months, and returned to
Sydney after seven months.
Position
Blainey argued that the key to explaining
why the British settled on the Australian
continent, was its position. Comparatively,
the standard historical explanation before
that time was that Britain needed a
replacement repository for convicts after the
American colonies were 'lost' in 1776.
Blainey contended that England really
needed a new sea base and refitting port in
order to strengthen her commercial empire
in the east. The east coast of Australia could
be a port of call for four routes:
• The China sea trade (which soared in
importance after 1784); Sumatra as a port
was threatened by either pirates or by the
Dutch in times of war
• To the Pacific north west of America
(the trade in skins)
• As a centre for the whaling industry
developing in New Zealand and the
southern seas
• As a centre for smuggling and
privateering on the rich Spanish trade
linking the Philippines, Mexico and
South America.
Blainey also argues that an important
element in the equation was Norfolk Island
and the flax and pines Capt. Cook found
there. A base like Sydney could protect and
help access the even more isolated Norfolk
Island.
The first relief ship for the new colony
arrived in 1790 (one earlier ship was
wrecked on an iceberg en route, abandoned
most of its cargo and returned to Cape
Town).
Internal Distance
Early Australian towns all faced the sea
which then was a communications channel
rather that a barrier. Sea transport was
cheap: in 1820 it was cheaper to send a
barrel of whale oil to London than to send it
100 miles inland. Sydney was hemmed in by
the Blue Mountains, which were not crossed
until 1813. They were a barrier but at the
same time there was enough crop land
available on the coastal plains and thus no
real need to explore inland. Inland travel
was slow and expensive. Distance and travel
problems help explain why wool became
Australia's first major trading commodity
after whale oil, and why industry took so
long to develop.
Thus is can be seen that distance and
isolation were vital factors in the way
settlement occurred in Australia, for much of
its history, but especially in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries.
Isolation from the World
References:
Blainey, Geoffrey (1974), The Tyranny of Distance. South
Melbourne: Sun Books, first published 1966
Distance and Isolation are the main themes
of early settlement. Plants and seeds brought
in the ships were damaged by the long
journey. Letters to and from England were
infrequent. The settlers had to rely on their
own food and at first even developed scurvy
Minnery, John (2000), "Australia and the Tyranny of
Distance", unpublished essay for PSB432
History of the Built Environment, QUT, School
of PLAS.
100
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Antipodean Visions
landscape practice that could first survey
and describe, then evoke in new settlers
an emotional engagement with the land
that they had alienated from its aboriginal
inhabitants.
ANTIPODEAN AND
EUROPEAN VISIONS
In his study, Smith (1989:ix-x) dismissed the
traditional approaches of "European cultural
movements and categories (classicism,
romanticism, naturalism, impressionism,
etc.)" because they "obscure the conceptual
underpinnings of landscape throughout the
[19th] century by the dominating categories
of the descriptive sciences (botany, zoology,
geology,
geography,
meteorology,
anthropology, etc.) by means of which
landscape and their inhabitants can be
bought under control." Developing new
ways of seeing (and interpreting) cultural
history is a trademark of Smith's work. Gia
Metherell (1997:26) reviewed a biography
of Smith and concluded that, "Smith's
European Vision and the South Pacific [is]
credited
with
transforming
our
understanding of the visual." Peter Beilharz
(1997:109), the biographer, continued:
Notes by Jeannie Sim.
Bernard Smith is primarily an art historian
and critic, but his far-sighted scholarship has
been influential also on other spheres of
research in Australia. When he published
European Vision and the South Pacific in
1960, it came as part of a major change in
understanding about perception and the
interpretation of history. The previous
notion about the 'scientific' and 'objective'
observer was giving way to an acceptance of
'observer biases'. Thus, Smith (1989:vii)
wrote in the preface to the second edition:
The use of the term 'European vision'
declared a belief in a cognitive theory of
perception: that seeing is conditioned by
knowing. But the book nowhere
suggested that Europeans (or for that
matter the members of other ethnic or
cultural grouping) are incapable as
individuals of seeing what is actually
before them, or that they are incapable of
knowing that they are in the presences of
the (for them) new, though they may well
find, and usually do find, difficulty in
assembling appropriate words, images,
symbols and ideas to describe accurately
their experience. It was assumed that it is
possible, with the exercise of reasonable
care, to distinguish accurate and faithful
description from the distortions and errors
so frequently attendant upon the
interpretation of the novel. The book was
not written as an apologia for an extreme
cultural relativism.
Smith's work is pivotal to understanding
who we are. Smith … upsets the usual
cliches of national identity by recognising
that identity has less to do with geography
than with relationships – we are
antipodean, rather than Australian. Its a
complex view, but for Smith the
importance of being antipodean is that our
culture cannot be understood without
reference to its opposite, Europe: just as
European culture has to be seen in
relation to its antipodes, for culture is not
static but fluid and hybrid, absorbing from
other images and ideas which transform
and reinvent it.
This two-way perception (by Australians
and by Europeans, of each other their own
selves) helps in understanding the
complexity
of
Queensland
cultural
landscapes (which include the physical
entity and various representations of it).
Smith's investigations have opened our eyes
as to further possibilities of interpretation.
But as this meagre review reveals, there is
much more to be explored than described
here.
From his standpoint of art historian, Smith
purposely chose to explore the 'typical'
landscape
images
(especially
those
"produced primarily for the purposes of
information") rather that the popularly held
method in the 1950s of considering only the
'art
masterpieces'.
Smith
(1989:ix)
concluded:
It was from such a perspective tat the
notion of 'typical' landscape as the
predominant mode of nineteenth-century
landscape
painting
emerged.
The
European control of the world required a
101
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Antipodean Visions
References:
Beilharz, Peter (1997), Imagining the Antipodes: Culture,
theory and the visual in the work of Bernard
Smith, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
pg. ###. The word 'antipodes' is Greek for "with
the feet opposite".
Metherell, Gia (1997), "Portrait of a Lucky Bastard", The
Australian Magazine, June 14-15, 1997, pg. 26.
[Article pp.26-7, 29 & 31].
Smith, Bernard (1989), European Vision of the South Pacific,
2nd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
102
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Artistic Interpretations
Judith Wright seeks the fundamental human
perceptions (which she called 'biological
man') with the typical understanding of the
poet.
While the editors (Seddon and
Davis) reflected the ecological standpoint of
the original symposium, it appears that kind
of vision (or mental and cultural 'bias') is
just part of the myriad of interpretations of
the landscape (natural and cultural) that have
existed in the past and in their time of the
1970s. These five papers reflect admirably
the diversity of perceptions through time and
how they all contribute to a holistic
understanding of place and cultural
landscapes.
CULTURAL
LANDSCAPE
INTERPRETATION
THROUGH THE ARTS
Notes by Kim Watson
and Helen Armstrong
The following selection of outlooks about
the Australian landscape are drawn from the
influential work edited by George Seddon
and Mari Davis (1986), Man and Landscape
in Australia: towards an ecological vision.
They are presented as summaries of key
points related to perceptions of the
landscape seen through painting, literature
and poetry. The five essays reviewed were:
Bolton, G. "The Historian as Artist and
Interpreter of the Environment"
pp. 113-24.
Elliot, B.
"Emblematic
Vision:
or
landscape in a concave mirror"
pp. 125-44.
Kramer, L. "Symbolic Landscapes" pp.
145-56.
Thomas, D. "Visual Images" pp. 157-66.
Wright, J. "Biological Man" pp. 167-72.
"The Historian as Artist and
Interpreter of the Environment"
The following review of Geoffrey Bolton's
study has been divided into nine
chronological eras which reflect the
changing perceptions about the Australian
environment from the 1830s to the 1970s.
1830s
During this era the discipline of historical
writing reflected environmental concerns
from a protagonist view. Perceptions of
Australia tended to be based on a utilitarian
paradigm therefore the Australian landscape
was portrayed as a "tabula rasa",; a
landscape that could only be cultivated and
exploited for economic gain.
The review of these essays was undertaken
by Kim Watson is a graduate in Fine Arts
and Landscape Architecture under the
supervision and editorship of Helen
Armstrong.
The landscape in geographical descriptions,
such as those in John Dunmore Lang's
History of New South Wales (1834), was
represented as an encouragement for future
investment and profit from the cultivation of
crops such as wheat, wool, vines, cotton,
tobacco etc., thus attracting capital,
migration and political attention.
In summary, Geoffrey Bolton's perception as
a
practising
modern
historian
is
complemented by the views of other
historians writing about Australia and the
environment. The additional notion of
historian as artist and interpreter (perhaps
one and the same thing) is also of interest
here. Brian Elliot seeks to identify 'emblems'
(items with special significance or value to
Australian society) through the ages since
Europeans arrived. These symbols are also
the subject of the essay by writer Leonie
Kramer, observing the perceptions of
landscapes represented in Australian
literature. Daniel Thomas investigates visual
imagery for these emblems and perceptions.
1850s
By the 1850s, the frame of reference for the
Australian landscape started to reveal
obvious limitations in its exploitative
potential. John West, in his History of
Tasmania (1852), having witnessed the
effect of the Australian environment on
European 'man', believed that environment
shaped societies. Therefore, he argued, the
103
Australian landscape contributed to or
impacted upon the 'Australian National
Character' and overall Australian ethos.
Old Country. Marcus Clarke (as cited in
Bolton:116) wrote prophetically,
…the average Australian will be a tall,
strong-jawed, greedy, pushing, talented
man… His wife will be a thin narrow
woman, very fond of dress and idleness,
caring little for her children, but without
sufficient brainpower to sin with zest.
Two views, the exploitative view and the
environmental determinist view, form the
foundation theory that underlies many
further historical writing.
This attitude exemplified the environmental
determinism associated with a perceived
'Australian Character'.
1860s-1870s
By the 1860s, notions of the Picturesque
when describing Australian landscapes
became more frequent. Rusden, in his
History of Australia (1883), was considered
an Old World historian of Australia. He was
categorised in this way because he saw the
Australian landscape through European
eyes, using the language of the Picturesque
to describe the scenery surrounding him. In
contrast, the journal writings of explorers
rather than those of historians from this
period tend to portray an increased
understanding of the Australian landscape.
1890s
By the1890s, there is a sense that the
Australian legend, namely the pastoral
tradition, was seen as authentic. The Pastoral
Ring was completed, that is, the completion
of the circle of exploration, discovery and
consolidation regarding the Australian
landscape. It was a period where no further
exploration inland occurred for future
settlement. It was also a time when the
environmental destruction due to European
land practices was noted in journals and
newspaper.
Bolton (1976:115) points out that the vast
difference between the landscape of the
Northern Hemisphere and that of Australia
led to 'exoticism' of the landscape.
At this time Australian history equalled the
history of European settlement. Any form of
Aboriginal history was erased from the
Australian consciousness encouraged by a
desire for a noble history.
they came from the cool, moist green
lands of the Northern Hemisphere, and to
them everything in the Australian scene
was exotic, demanded their attention, and
impelled them to describe it …in the old
country.
The lack of wars and revolutions when
compared to European history led to a desire
for a dignified history. This was a time of
emerging nationhood which was defined
predominantly in political and economic
terms rather than as a comprehensive
chronological history. Bolton suggests the
"lack" of a 'dignified' history led to mythmaking, not by historians but by the written
words of novelists including Marcus Clarke,
George Paterson, Will Ogilvie and Henry
Lawson. These writers were seen to be
creators of the Australian image in the
period of early nationhood.
Interestingly, John Forrest, an Australian
historian writing in 1870-1874, had the
opportunity to correct the perceptions of his
contemporaries, but he wrote little of the
Australian scenery. Forrest took the
environment of his upbringing for granted,
thinking that there was nothing strange
about the bush or the desert because it was
"simply his home." (Forrest cited in
Bolton:115).
During this period a self-conscious
generation of writers (journalists, academics
etc.) emerged that felt compelled to define a
distinct 'Australian Type'. To do so they
sought explanations in climactic and
environmental factors. Writers such as
Marcus Clarke (1877) recognised many
characteristics within Australian cities that
strongly distinguished Australia from the
1920s
Bolton notes that during the 1920s, there is a
noticeable lack of ecological detail in
historical writings depicting the Australian
subject
matter.
Because
of
the
environmental catastrophes, there was a
large amount of information regarding the
104
environmental
effects
of
particular
agricultural methods which had been
accumulated over the years since 1880.
Despite this, such information did not
feature in the histories of this time because
historical perspectives were still concerned
with the political and legislative arenas.
history of Australia. Bolton suggests this
was influenced by two factors: the first
factor was the introduction of geography as
a subject into tertiary level studies; the
second factor was the establishment of a
School of History at the University of
Melbourne with a primary focus on research.
These events encouraged a re-interpretation
of Australian history. As a result of this new
interest in Australian history, many
questions were raised about the interrelationship between 'man' and the
environment during the early generations of
white settlers in Australia.
1930s
It is interesting that despite the significant
changes, histories written in the 1930s made
little mention of urban growth patterns in
settlement areas, even though the majority of
Australians lived in a suburban environment.
At this time, W K Hancock's Australia
(1930) is the first indication that there was a
shift in perceptions of the Australian
landscape with an environmental theme
emerging.
1960s
Building on this new climate of enquiry, two
historical geographers, T.M. Perry and R.L.
Heathcote, made important advancements
into the understanding of settlement patterns
and their relationship to the environment.
Both proposed the idea that patterns of
settlement were environmental dictated.
Meanwhile, Hancock's Discovering Monaro
(1972) depicted an optimism for 'man's'
capacity to come to terms with 'his'
environment. It was considered a new
dimension in historical writing where the
strength of an interdisciplinary approach to
research was recognised.
Hancock's view was an inversion of the
early English settler. Having travelled
widely, he possessed standards of
comparison which the earlier explorers
lacked. His appraisal of the relationship
between the Australian environment and
'man' was unlike any previous depictions.
His view of the Australian landscape,
evocatively described, is enriched and
appreciated by his experiences abroad.
1970s
Factors such as the Depression of 1930 and
WW2 hindered further discussion about the
environmental character of the Australian
landscape. Political issues such as fascism,
communism, nationalism and war left little
room for environmental concerns
In the1970s, the environmental perspective
of Australian history was no longer
marginalised. Australian Environmental
History was introduced as a subject in a
number of Australian tertiary institutions,
Murdoch University establishing this focus
in 1976. Through this academic interest, it
was accepted that a complete understanding
of Australian history was not only economic,
social and regional history but also required
a
concurrent
exploration
into
the
environmental history.
Nevertheless, Eleanor Dark's The Timeless
Land (1938), was an historical novel that
stimulated an awareness of the Australian
environment. In this work she mentions the
destructive effects of European man on the
Aborigines. The novel recognised the
harmonious balance between pre-settlement
Aborigines and the environment. In contrast,
Manning Clarke's History of Australia sees
the Australian continent as Tabula Rasa
with a "barbaric" Aboriginal society.
"Emblematic Vision:
or landscape in a concave mirror"
Brian Elliot's study looks at how the 'literary
little bits' contribute to the image of
landscape as a whole. He describes 'Imagemaking' as a string of expected attitudes
using James Lionel Cuthbertson's Australia
(no date) to show how clichés are powerful
1950s-1960s
During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a
growing interest in the environmental
105
devices but only if they can evoke automatic
responses.
poets, the Australian landscape lacked all the
traditional emblems such as nightingales,
skylarks, thrushes and oaks…all poetic
emblems from the European palette,
emblems when used often becoming part of
folk consciousness.
He suggests the poetic landscape is made up
of such 'little bits'. We are given the
impression of a whole at a glance but it is
the little details that we are first conscious
of. Using the work of selective picturemakers such as the poets Lawson, Paterson,
Cuthbertson and Gordon he shows how their
poetry comprises of small singular details
strung together to create the wondrous
vision that is Australia. He points out that
the process of selecting single details to
make up the whole is a subjective process.
Foundations of poetry and landscape art in
Australia were laid down in the latter part of
the 18th Century. Poetry of the early settlers
conveyed a sense of limitation within their
own frames of civilised reference. In
contrast, the botanists of the 1840-1850s
showed considerably understanding of the
Australian environment. Elliot points out the
descriptions by the botanists portray a
discipline of focussing on the 'little bits' to
then understand the whole whereas the 'little
bits' are missing in the early years of
colonial Australian poetry.
The colonial poetic phase was concerned
with image making. To do so successfully
they needed 'proper' imagery , namely, a
body of creative clichés or emblems or an
emblematic system.
Marcus Clarke (1876) describes the
Australian landscape as having a "dominant
note" within the landscape of "gloom" –
funereal, secret and stern. "their solitude is
desolation" (Marcus Clarke as cited in
Elliot: 140). Clarke eludes to an overriding,
but for the moment, hidden beauty that when
recognised could soon be emblematic. The
character of colonial poetic Australia was
undoubtedly altered as a result of Clarke's
writing. There was an awareness of the
Australian landscape, only when it is known
and understood, a continuation of the old
rational criteria of 1788.
Elliot suggests that two elements, 'discovery'
and 'carry-over', when working together
shape tradition. In the new colony this
equation is not wholly balanced. The
Australian landscape had a much higher
degree of the unexpected strangeness or
radical dissimilarities so that the balance
between the discovery and the carry-over
was uneven.
Poets of this period rejected the flora and
fauna of the Australian landscape regarding
it as having no poetic significance. Elliot
points out that, although potentially bursting
with emblematic matter, the poets and new
settlers seemed to miss it. Poets place
literary value on certain things, however, the
Australian landscape was considered to have
no poetic value. It was…"un-Picturesque"
and "unmusical" (Elliot:134). By 'unpicturesque' it was implied that the
landscape was un-18th Century Picturesque
where wild nature and human additions, left
as ruins by the passing of time, created
poetic imagery.
Stephen's The Dominion of Australia (1877)
contains recurring poetic metaphors of
image of awakening, the birth or the dawn of
a young nation. The discovery of artesian
water in 1870 was revered as holding the
hopes of endless fertility for the outback.
Selections of emblematic detail occur when
the true facts or perceived reality about the
landscape are developed into an art; then we
are no longer looking at the facts. The
emblematic details are selected to
concentrate our attention, therefore directing
our perspective. The presence of emblematic
detail in poetry concentrates and strengthens
the substance of the message. Elliot says that
a growing nation such as Australia, a
colonial culture, needs to find and articulate
Poetic images of the Australian landscape
either created a complete picture filling in
the gaps in comprehension or were
descriptions of vistas that are enjoyed
because they look somewhat like the
landscape they have left behind. For the
106
the essential 'emblemry' that conveys the
truth within the national and communal
mind, instead of perpetuating the false 'carry
–over' of bluebells and wise old oaks.
that nature exists to be improved by man
"…abundant proofs of the wonted energy of
the Anglo-Saxon race, who speedily rescue
the most untamed soils from the barbarism
of nature." (Tucker cited in Kramer:147).
In contemporary poetry there is a desire to
be seen as a 'modern' conquest over
'colonial' spirit. The present period of poetry
is one that has an independent approach to
the use of emblematic suggestion. Poetry is
a mirror which concentrates articulated
perceptions (emblems) by which we identify
ourselves.
Clarity of the Scientists
In contrast, scientists in the 1830s portrayed
a certain clarity in their perceptions of the
Australian landscape, possibly not clouded
by Romantic/Picturesque literature. Charles
Darwin in 1836 travelled across the Blue
Mountains to Bathurst. Instead of the lack of
seasonal variation and un-picturesque
scenery, Darwin wrote about the natural
beauty within the landscape and the harsh
scenes of workers performing their daily
labour, "forty hardened, profligate men were
ceasing from their daily labours, like the
slaves of Africa, yet without their just claim
for compassion." (Darwin as cited in
Kramer:148). These images became the
central narrative for Marcus Clarke's For the
Term of his Natural Life. This work
signifies a shift away from literal
documentation to the beginning of a literary
exploration of 'man's' perceptions of 'his'
environment.
"Symbolic Landscapes"
In this essay Leonie Kramer looks as a
number poets representation of the
Australian landscape. She commences with
Barron Field.
Barron Field: First Fruits of
Australian Poetry (1819)
In his poetic journals of his excursions
across the Blue Mountains to Bathurst and
back, Barron Fields laments the monotony
of the Australian scenery. He makes
references through his poetry of the intimate
connection in European poetry between the
seasons and human life. When adapting this
metaphor to the Australian landscape…
"There seems… to be no transition of season
in the climate itself, to excite hope, or to
expand the heart and fancy." (Barron Fields
cited in Kramer:145).
Growing Intimacy with the Landscape
A.D. Hope's Australia; Thomas Kenneally's
Bring larks and heroes, James McAuley's
Envoi are literary examples of the 19th
Century observations of a more intimate
relationship between 'man's' perceptions of
'his' landscape and 'his' own sense of
individuality. All 'man's' mind and
experience are examined like the contours of
the landscape. However in modern
Australian writing, the contours of the
landscape provide the defining context for
'man's' mind and experience. The landscape
is a challenge for human experience. Henry
Handle Richardson's The Fortunes of
Richard Mahoney, Patrick White's novels,
Kenneth Slessor's Crow Country are
examples where the Australian environment
becomes an element within the narrative that
pushes man to the limits of human
experience where external landscapes are
equivalent to inner experiences.
Barron Field's writing exemplifies problems
of perception. Field highlights that no early
settler could see and appreciate the
Australian landscape for what it was. These
settlers were conditioned by years of
European environments. As a result, it was a
natural instinct to use the familiar to explain
or define the new experiences or 'the
unfamiliar'.
James Tucker and 'Civilising
Traditions'.
James Tucker's descriptions of Ralph
Rashleigh entering Port Jackson exemplifies
confusion of actualities with imaginative recreations in works of the 1820s . His work
conveys the 18th Century civilised tradition
Kramer points out that Patrick White's Voss
is an exploration of the landscape as a
107
literary base for internal travel. Observations
travel beyond pure description suggesting a
development of the relationship between the
observer and the observed. This progression
in the literary imagination occurs when the
observer becomes induced or seduced by the
whole experience.
a backdrop nor just geography, the
landscape becomes part of a state of mind.
Patrick White's novels are situated
substantially within Australian urban and
suburban life. Consistently White writes of
an environment that serves the purposes of
literary intention. Details of specific
observations are carefully constructed
fiction, an imaginative re-creation of
actuality. Cities/towns are recognisable to a
point but are deconstructed and recreated to
provide a particular setting of the author's
mind. This is a powerful, persuasive literary
style, as it can alter the reader's own way of
seeing. Patrick White's characterisations of
reality are not unlike the writings of Barron
field and Ralph Rashleigh. The reader is
conditioned by literary perceptions to see
through the eyes of others, thus potentially
altering the perception of ourselves; the
literary circle is complete.
Perceptions of Darwin, Leichhardt and
others qualify the view of Australian literary
history that is now widely acceptedas shown
in a snippet of Leichhardt's letter to Dr.
Little
in
1842
(as
cited
in
Kramer:150).describing a walk through the
Sydney Botanical Gardens in the moonlight.
You'd look the full Moon in the eye;
you'd hearken to the sounds of the cicadas
and the crickets; your eyes would sweep
over the blue mirror of the water to the
dark mass of trees that frame it; it is this
mild weather your whole body would
respond to a deep sense of well-being.
Discomfort in Landscape
This can be summarised as FAMILIARITY
= KNOWLEDGE = EXPRESSION OF
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES
where
modern writers have captured and respected
the Australian landscape in its most dramatic
and subtle mutations.
This is in contrast to the way the early
European settlers wrote. They seem to have
been unable to see the landscape in its true
reality. Kramer suggests they were unable to
understand it and thus describe it accurately
and
confidently
to
others.
The
"imperfections" within the writings of the
19th Century were caused by the discomfort
and confusion felt by the settlers towards the
landscape. Changes in modes of perception
within modern writing were influenced by
two factors, accumulated histories of
exploration and discovery and the pressure
of the Australian experience : the promise
and the realisation of harsh realities.
"Visual Images"
Daniel Thomas writes of how the visual arts,
observations by others, are generated by the
observation of life and the landscape of
dwelling. He points out that painters have
been interested in the landscape throughout
Australian history, reflecting the 19thC
European movements such as Romanticism,
Realism and Impressionism; all art
movements that convey an interest in the
landscape. The 20th century art movements
such as Dadaism, Cubism, Abstract
Expressionism had little influence in the
Australian art context. Instead it was
Surrealism which was embraced by
Australian painters such as Russell
Drysdale, Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and
Arthur Boyd in the 1940s.
The Urban Landscape
Christina Stead's Seven Poor Men of Sydney
(1934) and For Love Alone
and Lois Stone's Jonah (1911) are examples
of modern Australian writing where the
dominant image of the Australian landscape
is an urban one. Whereas, Kenneth
McKenzie : The Young Desire It (1937) and
Randolph Stow : To the Island are two
examples of modern Australian writing set
in a rural landscape. In all works, whether
situated in a rural or urban setting, the
landscape is given meaning. It is not merely
Thomas
summarises
perceptions
of
Australian landscape under a number of
categories of painting.
108
pastoral tradition, a time when Australian
artists saw the landscape to be dull and
monotonous so they sought to spice it up
with influences from the Pacific and Asia
thus rendering it as an exotic landscape or
tropically Picturesque.
Pastoral Landscape
The history of the Pastoral Landscape in
Australia was evident in the works of John
Glover and Conrad Martens 1830-1840 and
Eugene von Guerard and Lois Buvelot 18501860 where the landscape is embellished
with homesteads and stockmen. The artists
painted the landscape as periphery. The
landscape is not central to the painting but
rather is represented as ' Exotica'. John
Glover's paintings generalised the pastoral
landscape without any specific Australian
reference. Thomas suggests his style is said
to be a combination of conservative
Romantic pastoral Arcadia and 17th C
Roman art of Claude Lorrain with a subtle
homage to the Aboriginal tradition
agriculture and their harmony with the
landscape.
Scientific Landscape
These were painting or engravings of the
landscape that provided a backdrop for
botanical and anthropological discoveries.
The original site of discovery was of little
importance, therefore paintings were
compilations of all species found thousands
of miles apart. J W Lewin was natural
history draughtsman in 1815. He created a
series of watercolours whilst crossing the
Blue Mountains. These are the first
landscape paintings that portray the
untidiness and disorder of the Australian
bush vegetation and that capture it's
untidiness in the specific light of a hot, dry
landscape. Later Buvelot in 1870 painted the
gumtree in all it's glory. Many of his
paintings dramatise the gumtree, allowing it
to totally dominate the painting. These
paintings of this now dignified tree sparked
interest in his audience. Hans Heysen in
1910 further enhanced the dignity of the
gumtree, propelling its popularity to the
present day iconography of Australia.
In contrast, Eugene von Guerard painted the
pastoral landscape as 'collision'; the
juxtaposition of colliding elements in the
landscape such as immigration, destruction
and regeneration. Louis Buvelot painted
pastoral paintings that emphasised sheep
within the landscape, a significant shift from
the traditional European paintings where
cattle always inhabited the landscape. His
paintings are intimate suburban pastoral
scenes, commonplace and humble, rather
than the remote pastoral expanses of his
contemporaries.
Intimate Landscape
Thomas suggest that as the Australian
landform was considered flat, featureless
and uniform, perhaps this forced artists to
examine the landscape at more detail.
Frederick McCubbin in the 1880s, painted
the popular images of pastoral life in the
landscape contributing to the nationalistic
generation. However McCubbin's repertoire
extended to painting the intimate landscape,
one of loving detail and affectionate
involvement with the landscape at ground
level. This was particularly evident in Mc
Cubbin's North Wind (1890) which is a
combination of an intimate focus set within
a distant generalisation of the Australian
landscape.
By 1888, Australia had been colonised for
100 years and there was search for a national
identity. Suddenly space on gallery walls
and museums were filled with images of
pastoral life and the landscape. These were
large scale, straightforward in their content
and intention and simple in method,
exemplifying nationalistic painting. These
included the works of Tom Roberts,
Fredrick McCubbin, Arthur Streeton, Julian
Ashton, Frank Mahony and G W Lambert.
Their influence was so strong that even in
the 1930, artists such as Russell Drysdale,
Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd were still
benefiting from the pastoral traditions of the
1890s, some with a surrealist influence.
From the1920s to 1940s, Margaret Preston
introduces an opposing view to the intimacy
of the 1890s. Her work was characterised by
large simplifications of the Australian floral
Before the Pastoral , there were scientific
representations of the landscape. 1815 pre-
109
form; influenced by Australian Aboriginal
Art, her style bold, geometric, enlarged and
coarse in scale.
patriotic
image
of
the
pastoralist
representing the nationalistic Australian. By
the1890s, nature was seen as a violent
element. The Australian bush was often
portrayed as dangerous and sinister. Many
paintings depicted the landscape as ominous
in character. However the majority of
Australian landscape paintings of this period
depict a sense of man conquering nature, the
landscape as tamed and benign. Thomas
suggests that Tom Roberts' "The Sunny
South" 1887 as the first painting of
European nudes in the Australian landscape,
indicates that these Australians did not feel
alienated from the environment.
Colours of the Australian Landscape
For the first 100 years the Australian
landscape was represented as green/tawny
brown, as exemplified in the pastoral
landscapes of Martens, Glover and von
Guerard. By the 1880s, the pastoral
landscape became gold and then the intimate
depictions of the landscape coloured
grey/mauve. In the 1930s and 1940s the
landscape became monochrome red as
painters moving from the pastoral
landscapes to the desert country shown in
Hans Heysen: the Flinders Ranges 1926 and
Arthur Murch: Alice Springs 1933. Red
carried associations with the word "heart".
As well, the advent of Technicolour film and
Kodachrome transparencies accentuated the
colour red. But it was Russell Drysdale's
"New South Wales Drought series"(1945)
which confirmed red to be the symbolic
colour of Australia.
Ending
In the1900s, there were a number of
'isolation paintings' which were responding
to the demolition and death surrounding
Sydney at the outbreak of the bubonic
plague. By the1920s, Lloyd Rees painted
images of the landscape that combine the
"Old Sydney" Picturesque-ness and the great
landscape paintings of Europe. He often
'improved on' paintings and drawings of the
Australian landscape by placing a hill-top
monastery in the composition.
Seascape
Thomas felt that marine painting scarcely
existed in Australian Art. Despite this, there
was a significant awareness of the
movement and strength of the ocean,
portrayed in Australian Art, reflecting a
nation's conscious awareness of the ocean,
both its delights and danger, shown in
Arthur Streeton's "The Long Wave Coogee".
By the 1940s, Arthur Boyd adds a creature
still in the stages of evolution to the
particular remoteness of the Australian
landscape. Animal, vegetable or mineral is
not stipulated however its presence is an
indication of his own awareness of a prehistory to the Australian landscape.
Landscape with Emotion,
Drama and Myth
"Biological Man"
Loneliness and the concept of a settlement
clinging to the edges of an empty continent
have often been characterisations of the
Australian landscape. Another emotion
associated with representations of the
landscape is 'Pride' seen as the achievement
of civilisation in an unknown wilderness,
ordering the disorder. Adjusting to the
landscape as a pioneer where Australia was
seen as physically empty, visually
monotonous and empty of history, poetry
and myth.
By the 1880s, painting showed an
exaggeration and over-emphasis of the
exotic using palm trees and fern. There was
also increasing patriotism with the dominant
Judith Wright looks at the landscape as a
tension between 'biological man' and
'technological man'. She argues that poetry
is the voice of the 'biological man'.
She suggests that 'Biological man' is within
every human being; he is the part of us that
is least under conscious control. 'Biological
man' is the feeling/emotional side as
opposed to the thinking analytical side. His
needs are pure and simple; food, shelter,
employment, air and water. However, our
"new" environment is made of by-products
of the material progress made by the
'economic/technological man'.
110
'Biological man' is the enemy of progress
because he is the victim of progress. Wright
suggest that he can be silenced no more;
'Biological man' is now finding his voice,
responding by protest. This protest can take
many forms – criminal, dropping out of
society or escaping by means of alcohol,
drugs etc. As a result 'Biological man' may
become ill and need to seek help thus
become a statistic that is reflected in the cost
of health services. 'Biological man' is then a
burden on society – what a bind for'
biological man'! Wright argues that poets are
the mouthpieces for 'biological man', as
poetry is the words of our human history and
natural rhythms of life. Poetry is a way the
'biological man' can survive and be heard.
Poetry can be seen as a measure of the real
human condition.
discomfort of 'Biological man' under the
conditions created by 'technological man'.
By the 1950s, 'technological man' was
ascending. Urbanisation, industrialisation,
war and settlement predominantly in the
urban environment, convey a shift from
country life. Poetry is now the words of the
university-educated about the city. Poetry is
sophisticated, scholarly and urban, not
environmental in terms of 'Biological man'.
In the 1960s, the realisation that progress
technologically can lead to war prompted a
reaction. The academicism of poetry started
to crumble and poetry moved to cafes. The
philosophy of poetry was now based on
instant communication through personal
relationships rather than what was demanded
by the technological society, thus 'Biological
man' is the instigator for change within us
all.
Australian poetry portrays an unease with its
own country, perhaps we are still aliens in
our own country. We have only occupied
this country for a relatively small time but in
that small time we have not tried to adapt to
the country instead we have tried to adapt
the country to ourselves. Poetry reflects 200
years of European settlement and the
resulting infertile soils, vanished forests,
silted estuaries, drained wetlands and
exploited agricultural land; all in an
alarmingly short period of time.
Wright shows that we have a history of
confrontation with the landscape which has
been portrayed in poetry of Charles Harpur,
depicting Australia as a Wordsworthian
landscape inhabited by perfectible man;
Henry Lawson, scolding the bush for its
monotony and harshness, so too the cities
for their cruelty. Inturn the harshness of the
bush has changed Australians into tough
pioneering types, inhabiting an equally
tough nation. If the landscape was harsh, the
challenge was there for it to be conquered, if
it was then conquered it was done so in the
interest of progress and the national spirit.
Apparently 'Biological man' found little to
say during the first Century of Australian
poetry. It was John Shaw Neilson who was
an early voice of 'Biological man'. He wrote
of the landscape of his birth and his
alienation in urban city life including the
111
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Attitudes to Nature
These visions were based on the five major
images proposed earlier by geographer
Ronald Heathcote.145 Frawley maintained
that the combination of Western cultural
traditions (particularly among Anglo-Celtic
settlers) were influenced by the Australian
conditions to create these different visions.
He described the historical development of
these visions (see Table 8), but the essential
outcome of this analysis was the opposing
ideas
of
developmentalism
and
environmentalism and the striving for some
common ground between these polarities as
a present day objective. In Queensland's
history, these visions were vying for
attention, with the developmental vision by
far the strongest.
ATTITUDES TO
NATURE – Visions of
Landscape
by Jeannie Sim142
Central to any landscape design philosophy
is an attitude, or set of attitudes, towards
Nature (otherwise known as the natural
environment). Such attitudes affect other
kinds of changes on the land, including
urban development, agriculture, mining,
conservation and tourism, that is these
attitudes are made manifest also in the
broader cultural landscape. One relevant
definition of Nature in the OED is "13.a The
material world, or its collective objects and
phenomena, esp. those with which man is
most directly in contact; freq. the features
and products of the earth itself, as contrasted
with those of human civilization."143 Aside
from this general but comprehensive concept
of Nature, there have been several 'visions'
of the relationship between human beings
and their environment. Attitudes to Nature,
especially as they related to Australia, have
been considered recently within the research
areas of geography and environmental
history. Kevin Frawley listed five specific
'visions' of nature within the Australian
context, which he explained in this manner
(emphasis added):
TABLE 8: Eras in evolving Australian
environmental visions, & key elements.146
Exploitative pioneering: nineteenth
century onwards
• Enlightenment thought: progress, growth,
development
• Anglo-Celtic cultural background: obeisance to
all things British
• Colonialism/imperialism: Australian production
geared to Empire needs
• Rationality: on rational principles Australia was
to be made more productive
• Evolutionary theory: gave a rationale for colonial
displacement of people and transformation of
environment by a superior race
• Yeoman farmer ideal/agrarianism: social and
environmental ideal highly significant in land
policy until mid twentieth century
• Human impact on environment: influence of
Marsh (1864) as well as local observation
Colonial (resource exploitation,
development ethos)
National (national development
optimism)
Scientific (enquiry into nature)
Ecological (opposition to development
ethos)
Romantic (attraction of wild and
uncivilized landscape)144
142
Edited extract from: Sim, J.C.R. (1999), Chapter 5, in
"Designed Landscapes in Queensland, 1859-1939:
experimentation – adaptation – innovation." Unpublished
PhD thesis, Brisbane: QUT.
143
OED, "Nature," pg. 249.
144
Frawley, Kevin (1994), "Evolving Visions:
environmental management and nature conservation in
Australia" Chapter 4, In Dovers, Eric (1994), Australian
Environmental History: Essays and Cases. Melbourne:
Oxford University Press. pp. 55-78; derived from
"Environmental Ideas in Australia and Public Policy
Development," pg. 59.
National development and 'wise use' of
resources: c. 1900-60s
• 'Wise use' concepts: slowly come to underpin
State intervention in resource management
(beginning with water)
• National development, northern development,
population question
• Immigration
• Post World War II social and political change,
rise of nature conservation interest
Modern environmentalism: 1960s-present
• International wave of social change
• Environmentalism: competing social paradigm to
[become] dominant one
• Green politics: critique of capitalism, Marxism,
112
145
Heathcote, R. L. (1972), "The Visions of Australia 17701970," In Rapoport, A. (ed.) Australia as Human Setting.
Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 77-98.
146
Frawley, Kevin (1994), pp. 55-78; This is a copy of his
Table 4.1 of the same name, pg. 61.
and the 'old' left
• Ecologically sustainable development: 'wise use'
writ anew, or development constrained
ecologically?
elsewhere. It was considered that attitudes to
science go beyond just dealing with nature,
and that an intrinsic relationship exists
between science, plants and gardening (or
horticultural science). This justified a
separate and detailed exploration which is
contained in the following section of this
chapter. The third theme of a romantic ethos
is revealed as having very strong links to
contemporary aesthetic theory such as 'the
picturesque.' For landscape design, the
interrelatedness of these three basic visions
becomes evident as the discussion
progresses.
Until recently, it was widely believed that
concern for the environment was hardly
raised in 18th or early 19th centuries, being
substantially a 20th century phenomenon.
The American George Perkins Marsh was
often cited as being among the first authors
to link the actions of humanity with
environmental degradation.147 However,
historian Richard Grove dispelled that myth
recently when he concluded:
our older assumptions about the
philosophical and geographical origins of
current environmental concerns need to
be entirely reconsidered. It is now clear
that modern environmentalism, rather
than being exclusively a product of
European
or
North
American
predicaments and philosophies, emerged
as a direct response to the destructive
social and ecological conditions of
colonial rule. Its colonial advocates, and
their texts, were deeply influenced by a
growing European consciousness of
natural process in the tropics and by a
distinctive awareness of non-European
epistemologies of nature.148
The
'developmental
ethos'
was
fundamental to Colonial settlement and postcolonial times as well. Recent histories of
Queensland have noted the heavy emphasis
on 'progress' or 'development' during both
the 19th and 20th centuries.149 This
development ethos affected many aspects of
life and lifestyle in early Queensland, not the
least being how land was managed. The
emphasis on development for commercial
purposes meant concepts such as intellectual
or spiritual stimulation, art and ornament
were barely considered: usefulness, the
"useful arts" and "the pursuit of the
practical" were the important concerns of the
times, and for most echelons of society.150
The development of the natural resources of
Queensland was seen as the primary driving
force for the Colony. This view is supported
by an unknown author who wrote in 1870:
Evidence from the Queensland publications
from the 1860s to the 1930s support Grove's
observation, with numerous instances of
concern for dwindling forests and associated
climatic problems being found, although
official (government) recognition of these
ideas was slow to take hold.
If the future of Queensland is to be great,
it can only become so through the
instrumentality of commerce, and it is
therefore the duty of every well-wisher of
the colony to assist by every legitimate
means in fostering its trade and
developing its immense resources.151
Three themes are used in the following
discussion to illustrate further the local
ideas: developmental ethos, ecological ethos
and romantic ethos. These themes were
derived from the five visions of Heathcote
and Frawley. The changes entail combining
the colonial and national visions into one
general developmental ethos and separating
out the scientific vision for discussion
147
148
Marsh, George Perkins and David Lowenthal (ed)
(1974), Man and Nature. Cambridge, MA: John Harvard
Library/Belknap Press. This was an anniversary reprint
of the original 1864 edition of the American scholar's
most famous and influential work. Lowenthal made this
claim to Marsh's prominence in his reprint introduction.
113
149
Dreaming to 1915, Vol. 1. St Lucia: UQ Press, Prologue.
See also Fitzgerald, Ross (1985), A History of
Queensland 1915 to the 1980s. St Lucia: UQ Press;
Flannery, Timothy Fridtjof (1996), The Future Eaters:
An ecological history of the Australasian lands and
people. Chatsworth, NSW: Reed.
150
Dreaming to 1915, Vol. 1. St Lucia: UQ Press, pg. 305.
151
Attached to "Annual Report to The Honourable
Secretary for Public Lands, Queensland" (presented to
Parliament by Walter Hill), In Queenslander, 7 May
1870, pg. 6. The catalyst for this declaration was the
recently tabled Annual Report from the curator of the
Brisbane Botanic Garden, Walter Hill, who was busy
widely thought to be of recent origin,
actually has ancient roots in the writings
of Theophrastus of Erasia in classical
Greece. Later climatic theories formed the
basis for the first forest conservation
policies of many British colonial states.
Indeed, as early as the mid eighteenth
century, scientists were able to manipulate
state policy by their capacity to play on
the fears of environmental cataclysm, just
as they are today. By 1850 the problem of
tropical rainforest deforestation was
already being conceived of as a problem
existing on a global scale and as a
phenomenon demanding urgent and
concerted state intervention.154
The excitement evident in this extract is
almost tangible. The vision of Nature with
bountiful
resources
is
pronounced.
Experimentation
with
plants
and
horticultural processes was the foundation of
these developmental efforts. The search for
profitable primary industries began with
pastoral ventures and continued with
familiar European agricultural pursuits
supplemented with some investigations into
new (tropical) plant products.152 Forestry
was another major industry that included a
range of development attitudes from the
outright exploitative to the strongly
conservative across its long history in
Queensland.153 The role of the early curators
of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens in both
these fields was confirmed in the
publications researched.
By stressing the dire consequences of
environmental
havoc
on
reduced
commercial activity and increased famine
and disease from failed crops, the Londonbased bureaucrats of the British Colonial
Office affected policy change at the local
colonial level. Important figures in science,
such as Charles Darwin and his friend Dr.
Joseph Hooker of the RBG, Kew were
voices of concern in the growing fields of
ecology and environmental management.
The concept of 'ecology' is basically the:
"study of interrelations between organisms
and their biotic and abiotic environments"
but has "has two meanings, one denoting the
environmental science and the other a
normative or ethical position that is
protective of and reverent towards
ecological processes and communities."155
Both meanings were discussed in the early
Queensland publications. The recognition of
the environment as an ecologically
functioning system was not beyond the ken
of educated men like Philip MacMahon,
curator of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens
(1889-1905). One particular example shows
the public nature of the discourse as well.
MacMahon wrote of the character of native
Cluster figs (Ficus racemosa syn. F.
glomerata), and the role of the little 'fly' in
fertilising the tiny fruit encapsulated in the
large fruiting body, popularly called the
'fruit'. He placed the workings of this 'small
fly' within an ecological context. He said:
"All Nature is mutually dependent ; there is
The 'ecological ethos' in the British Empire
began well before the 19th century. This
understanding of the environment related to
colonial scientists exploring not just the
individual plants and animals, but how they
all worked together as a natural system.
Modern historian Richard Grove wrote:
While the degree of popular interest in
global environmental degradation may be
something novel, the history of
environmental concern and conservation
is certainly not new. On the contrary, the
origins and early history of contemporary
western environmental concern and
concomitant attempts at conservationist
intervention lie far back in time. For
example, the current fear of widespread
artificially induced climate change,
experimenting with plants that had potential for future
agricultural industries.
152
Two recent histories of agriculture in Queensland are
Camm, J.C.R. (1976), Cultivation, Crops and Machinery:
The Development of Agriculture in Queensland, 18901914. Newcastle: University of Newcastle Press ; and,
Skerman, P.J., A.E. Fisher, and P.L. Lloyd (1988),
Guiding Queensland Agriculture: 1887-1987. Brisbane:
DPI.
153
Taylor, Peter (1994), Growing Up: Forestry in
Queensland. St. Leonard's, NSW: Allen & Unwin ; and,
Carron, L.T. (1985), A History of Forestry in Australia.
Canberra: Australian National University Press. Also
refer Webb, Leonard (1966), "The Rape of the Forests,"
in The Great Extermination, A.J. Marshall, ed. London:
Heinemann ; and Frawley, Kevin J. (1983) "Rainforest
Management in Queensland Before 1900 (Revised form
of a paper presented to the 51st ANZAAS Congress
Brisbane, May 1981)," Australian Historical Geography
Bulletin (4, January), pp. 2-26.
114
154
155
Emel, Jody (1994), "Ecology," pp. 145-147. In Johnston,
R. J., et al (1994), The Dictionary of Human Geography.
been printed and laid on the table of the
House in 1890.159
a kind of interlocking as it were, like parts of
some elaborate machine."156 The naturally
occurring existence of this fly has made the
growing of the Mediterranean Ficus carica
(the edible fig of antiquity) an easy task in
Queensland. This plant also requires
insectivorous efforts for fertilisation and
propagation and the development of edible
fruit.
Entwined amid these concerns for a
sustainable forestry industry were other
environmental and aesthetic issues, which
gave rise to the interest in establishing
National Parks in Queensland following the
example set in southern States and
colonies.160 The first National Park in
Queensland was Witches Falls, in
Tambourine Mountain, gazetted in 1906.
This was followed by Cunningham's Gap in
1909 and then the extensive Lamington
Plateau in 1915.161 At the opening of
Lamington National Park, the Minister of
Lands said:
Forestry and the conservation of forests
were recurring themes for many of the early
directors and curators of the Brisbane
Botanic Gardens, beginning with Walter
Hill.157 Hill also acted as the selector of
agricultural reserves and forestry reserves
(on Fraser Island) around this time.
Similarly, all the Government Botanists
from F.M. Bailey onwards, have lobbied for
adequate recognition of the unique flora of
Queensland which included both protection
and use for ornamental and productive
purposes. Philip MacMahon also wrote on
forestry matters and became the second head
of the Queensland Department of Forestry
between
1905-1910.158
His
early
involvement in forestry and conservancy is
encapsulated
in
this
biographical
description:
The park is described by visitors as
affording a panoramic view of
magnificent scenery consisting of rugged
mountains, waterfalls, precipices, running
streams, forest giants and glorious flora
and fauna. The reservation of the National
Park will preserve it for the use and
benefit of future generations. This is
regarded as the Blue Mountains of
Queensland.162
This statement reflects uncertainty and
insecurity in its use of language. For
example, visitors are credited with the
glorious assessment of the place's worth and
the subtropical rainforests are likened to the
Blue Mountains of NSW (mostly eucalypt
forests and woodlands) to justify or
Mr. MacMahon has always taken a
considerable interest in forestry, and has
no little experience in the propagation of
timber trees., to the study of which he
devoted no little time whilst in India. He
is also a practical surveyor and a clever
draughtsman. He was asked by the
Queensland Government to suggest a
scheme for the conservation of the
timbers of the colony (which in many
places are fast disappearing), and for the
natural regeneration of our forests. On
this he wrote a paper, and this paper has
156
V.2, January 1898, pg. 33;
157
Apart from his Annual Reports which usually included a
call for greater environmental care he also produced this
series of articles in the local Press: Hill, Walter (1879),
"Notes on Forest Conservancy I," Queenslander, 29 Nov
1879, pp. 692-693 ; "Notes on Forest Conservancy II,"
Queenslander, 6 Dec 1879, pp. 724-725 ; "Notes on
Forest Conservancy III," Queenslander, 13 Dec 1879, pg.
756 ; "Notes on Forest Conservancy IV," Queenslander,
27 Dec 1879, pg. 821.
158
Taylor, Peter (1994), Growing Up: Forestry in
Queensland. St. Leonard's, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
pg.226. The first head of the department was L.G. Board
(1900-1905).
115
159
Queensland, 1900. (1900), Brisbane: Alcazar Press, pp.
111. The reference tabled in Parliament was probably
later published as: MacMahon, Philip (1905), The
Merchantable Timbers of Queensland, Australia: With
Special Reference to their uses for Railway Sleepers,
Railway Carriage and Wagon Building, and Engineering
Works. Brisbane: George Arthur Vaughan, Government
Printer. This reference has numerous photographic views
and construction drawings of railway bridges in early
Queensland.
160
There are several published histories of this movement
and the first parks, including these: Chisholm, Alec
(1972), "The Great National Parks Movement in
Queensland, Romeo Watkins Lahey Memorial Lecture,"
JRHSQ, 9 (30), pp. 204-215 ; Jarrott, J. Keith (1975),
"History in Queensland National Parks, Fifth Romeo
Watkins Lahey Memorial Lecture, 21st March 1975,"
National Parks Association of Queensland News,
May/June 1975, pp. 3-25 ; Groom, Tony (1979),
Lamington National Park, Stanthorpe: International
Colour Pub'ns.
161
Poole, Stephen (1996), Wild Places of Greater Brisbane.
Brisbane: Qld Museum/Brisbane City Council. pg. 4.
162
Jarrott, J. Keith (1990), History of Lamington National
Park, Brisbane: Author / National Parks Association, pg.
41.
familiarise its value. Perhaps the later
appellation of the Lamington district as the
'Green Mountains' bears some relation to
explaining this difference.163 The point here
is that many contemporary resident
Queenslanders showed discomfort in
acknowledging the distinctive qualities of
their adopted landscape. Other places were
better because they were already known and
admired.
Reinforcing the good sense of making a
national park was a concern for the author.
However, the usefulness of the place was
stressed. The author 'G.H.' wrote,
Was the proclamation justified? Surely it
was. Here we have an area among the
hills and valleys that one would never
expect to be closely settled, but that can
serve many useful purposes as a great
national asset. Leaving the tourist aspect
aside, for the present, look at the
possibilities for the preservation of timber
and plant and bird life that such a State
reserve affords.167
Thanks to a few voices in the local
community interested in natural history,
some special natural environments were
protected from the turn of the century. These
people later formed the National Parks
Association of Queensland in 1930, a
community organisation with the goal to
maintain that 'watch-dog' role over
government.164 Romeo Watkins Lahey was
one of the founding members of the NPA
and had successfully campaigned with his
friend R.M. Collins for the creation of
Lamington National Park between 19111915.165 The tourist industry potential for
these National Parks was frequently
mentioned in the literature; thus, making
such places really 'useful'. A trip to the
Lamington National Park was reported in
with
numerous
the
Queenslander
photographs of scenic views and gigantic
trees. The author of the articles began:
The potential for tourism was compared to
similar established destinations in southern
colonies with this statement: "From the
tourist point of view, the MacPherson
Range, the Main Range, from Toowoomba
to the border, and the detached peaks in the
vicinity should become as popular as the
Blue Mountains in New South Wales." 168
Here, the author is not describing Lamington
in meek terms as a local version of the Blue
Mountains, but proudly and hopefully,
comparing potential tourist popularity. In
this report also, Lahey is mentioned: "It is
very largely owing to the efforts of a
Queensland University student, Mr. Romeo
Lahey, that this piece of mountain
borderland has been set apart for the future
common benefit of the people of the State as
a whole."169
That the National Park, on the
MacPherson Ranges, is capable of being
made a great holiday resort and recreation
ground for Southern Queensland was
apparent to a party of members of the
Brisbane Field Naturalists' Club, who
recently spent nine glorious days there.166
163
O'Reilly, Bernard (1940?), Green Mountains and
Cullenbong, 25th impression, Fortitude Valley: Kemp
Place Investments. This work describes the history of the
O'Reilly family who settled the Lamington Plateau in the
early 20th century and cleared the "Big Scrub" for
dairying purposes, but later turned to conservation and
tourism. O'Reilly's Lookout and Guesthouse and Binna
Burra are today the two major resorts within the Plateau
area.
164
Queenslander, 24 April 1930, pg. 3
165
Jarrott, J. Keith (1990), History of Lamington National
Park, ?Brisbane: Author & National Parks Association,
pp. 36 & 41. Lahey's early exploratory journey by foot
through the Coomera / Lamington Plateau area was
described in an article in the Queenslander, 9 September
1911.
166
The ecological awareness and conservation
of non-rainforest environments was much
slower to develop. Early visitors to Australia
such as the English nurseryman John Gould
Veitch had described the Melaleuca and
Eucalypt woodlands covering much of the
continent's coastal areas as "the same brown-
Trees", Queenslander, 8 February 1919, pg. 41. The
party was comprised of "Messrs. C.T. White
(Government Botanist), Henry Tyron (Government
Entomologist), A.H. Chisholm (Queensland secretary
Ornithologists Union), C.D. Gillies (University
biologist), S.R.L. Shepherd (Geological Department),
J.E. Young, R. Higgins, O.W. O'Brien, W. H. Hermann,
and G. Harrison."
G.H. [author = ?G. Harrison], "The National Park:
Mountain Views and Waterfalls, The Antarctic Beech
116
167
G.H. [author = ?G. Harrison], "The National Park",
Queenslander, 8 February 1919, pg. 41
168
169
looking Australian vegetation."170 One
unusual example of a call for the study of
gum trees (Eucalyptus spp.) was published
in the local Press in 1879. Dr. Bancroft
wrote a letter which included two significant
ideas:
of keeping stock and raising crops
(decidedly developmentalist ideas), he
presented a small essay called "Living in the
Bush," about Nature and humanity (which
leans towards environmentalism and is laced
with both aesthetic and romantic notions).
Observations of nature and natural processes
are just part of the plethora of knowledge
that Mackay indicates should be acquired.
In the Queenslander of last week, page
250, is an article about gum trees being
planted in various parts of the world,
ending in 'Perhaps at some time an effort
should be made to grow gum trees here
for shade purposes.' Might we not go
further, and grow a little park of them for
educational purposes ? We in this land of
gum trees know very little about them.171
Verily, there seems pressing need of a
new apostle to go to and fro in the land,
preaching everywhere what Ruskin calls
the "duty of delight." A love of nature is
just as much a matter of cultivation as a
love of virtue or of knowledge, or any
other desirable mental state, and its
attainment must always form an essential
part of every right education. That any life
should ever be allowed to grow stale, flat,
and unprofitable when there is much to
learn and enjoy, is one of the mysteries.
See to it, brothers and sisters – you
dwellers in the quiet homes scattered over
the hillsides, through the valleys, and on
the broad plains of our country – see to it,
that you are not throwing away your
birthright.173
Apart from the recognition of the most
common trees in Australia being least
understood, this extract includes a landscape
design matter and a scientific pursuit.
Bancroft's suggestion was not taken up from
the evidence uncovered so far, nor was the
idea of shade tree planting with gums, but
this statement is one of the earliest calls for
the study of these native plants. Later,
perhaps associated with the recognition of
early National Parks and a growing
awareness of the natural environment, an
arboretum was established in suburban
Brisbane for the study of Queensland's
native plants. Sherwood Arboretum was
established in 1923 to the layout of E.W.
Bick, then curator of the Brisbane Botanic
Gardens. The State Arboretum received a
rousing chorus in the description of its
progress by the Queenslander's gardening
columnist 'Chloris' who noted among other
things, a "grove of acacias" and an "avenue
of gums".172
This call for self-improvement is a legacy of
the Enlightenment era of the 18th century
and was a recurring sentiment in the
Victorian era both in Britain and Australia,
if not much of the industrialised world at
that time. Acquiring knowledge (to match
the practical experience much admired by
all) was another matter. Justifying the
pursuit of scientific agricultural and
horticultural knowledge as aids to better
productivity were an ongoing theme around
the turn of the century in Queensland in
particular.
The third theme about climate and Nature
discussed here is the 'romantic ethos'
which was (and is) closely linked to creative
and artistic expression. One early example
from agricultural writer Angus Mackay
shows how the visions of Nature could be
entwined. In between detailed descriptions
170
"Extracts from the Journal of Mr. John Gould Veitch
during a trip to the Australian Colonies and the South
Sea Islands," Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural
Gazette, [London] 10 February 1866, pg. 124.
171
Bancroft, Dr. (1879), letter published under the
"Forestry" banner, Queenslander, 30 August, 1879, pg.
277.
172
'Chloris' (1929), "Garden Notes," Queenslander, 28
February 1929, pg. 61.
Literary expression and the awareness of the
natural world can be found in the
Queenslander. This newspaper included
several literary sections over its printing
history that gave local poets and short story
writers a public forum for their ideas. Many
of these works centered on experiences in
the bush – both positive and negative
reactions. At times these works revealed a
sentimental attachment to the Australian
environment and Nature's processes. Such
173
117
Mackay, Angus (1875) The Semi-Tropical Agriculturist
and Colonists' Guide. Brisbane: Slater & Co. pg. 16
could be desired. Here you are among the
manuscripts of God. The darkening
shadows – neither moving nor at rest –
play on the sides of the mountains.175
ideas became more pronounced leading up
to Federation and beyond, where
nationalism and appreciation of 'the bush'
were closely linked.
Despite the author's obvious admiration for
the landscape around him, he still used the
common appellation of 'scrub' for the
ancient rainforest areas. Associated with
early environmentalist attitudes was the
notion of Nature being God's handiwork
which inferred that humans have a
responsibility to look after these special
(sacred) areas – the romantic ethos blended
with the ecological. The other side of this
philosophical coin is the God-given right for
humans to exploit Nature – the development
ethos. For Harrison, whose experience of
cities, pollution and urban problems was
primarily
via
sub-tropical
Brisbane,
nonetheless noted the unsullied character of
the Lamington Plateau:
Other descriptions of scenic landscapes
reveal both the aesthetic and romantic ideas
that were associated with these places.
'Picturesque' was a term that was frequently
used in these discourses, as a general term of
admiration for the visual character of natural
landscapes. Harrison, who has been cited
already, was particularly verbose in these
matters when discussing the Lamington
Plateau area:
At Mount Bithongabel, a few miles from
the [Moran's Creek] falls, where the party
camped for a couple of nights in the
beautiful scrub, there is a view that would
be hard to surpass anywhere. In one
direction you can look south over the
mountains to the Pacific Ocean in the far
distance, … Immediately below is the
valley of the Tweed, dotted with dairy
farms, … Mount Warning stands out in
the near distance, and the township of
Murwillumbah and the silver streak of the
Tweed are features of the panorama. The
lights of Byron Bay lighthouse blink at
you after the sun has set. In the other
direction you look down the valley to
where Mount Lindsay and Mount Barney
rear their heads above those of the minor
peaks in the vicinity, and beyond that, in
the haze, you can take in the Main Range
with all the blur of country that comes
down to Brisbane, with the sand on the
sea shoe at Stradbroke Island as a
background. This is typical of other
aspects all along the peaks of the border
range.174
The air – free from the dust that is
inseparable from the populated cities – is
cool and bracing, and you can appreciate
its value as a tonic as you drink in great
draughts of it. You are at a height of
anything from 2000ft. to nearly 4000ft.176
This combination of the attractive scenery
and the recuperative opportunities of cool,
clean mountain air became a major
characteristic of tourist promotions for this
area from the 1920s onwards to the present
day.
There were numerous other descriptions of
the scenic landscapes of Queensland in early
publications,
which
emphasised
the
picturesque and sentimental ideas that
embody the romantic ethos. These deserve
further investigation in their own right and
comparison with the dominant ethos of
development at all costs. The impression for
these publications was that authors were
carrying at the same time both romantic and
developmental attitudes to Nature in early
Queensland.177
The panoramic view and concepts of power
(of Nature and of humans conquering Nature
by climbing mountains) are issues revealed
in this extract. The tourist potential for
natural places with extraordinary scenic
views was emphasised in Harrison's account
and he mentioned one destination in
particular in this regard:
At one spot the O'Reilly family have
made a clearing in the scrub at a point
where they some day hope to erect a rest
house. Surely no more pleasing aspect
174
118
175
176
177
Among these were : Meston, Archibald (1895),
Geographic History of Queensland. Brisbane:
Government Printer ; Fox, Matt J. (1919-1923), The
history of Queensland : its people and industries : an
historical and commercial review, an epitome of
Bridging the themes of climate, Nature and
plants, is this extract from the first
Queensland Agricultural Adviser, Professor
E.M. Shelton. He advocated the use of
native plants for landscape works and
condemned the extensive clearing of
bushland for development purposes when he
wrote:
One of the most curious inconsistencies of
pioneer life the world over is seen in the
eagerness with which all native-tree
growths are chopped down and grubbed
up about country dwellings and public
buildings, in order that transplanted ones
may be enjoyed twenty years afterwards.
On almost every part of Queensland
outside of the western plains natural
groves exist, or did exist, which, with a
little pruning and thinning, might have
been made objects of beauty and utility to
this and coming generations.178
Shelton's advice reflects a growing concern
for the long-term future of the Colony of
Queensland, and the pleasant verdant
character that it should comprise.
These attitudes to nature are just some of the
key perceptual matters of relevance here.
Variations on these attitudes have been
raised by historians and writers of literature,
among others. The next section discusses
some of these major outlooks on Australia
and Queensland in particular.
progress. 3 Vols. Adelaide : Hussey & Gillingham for
the States Publishing Co. ; Knight, J.J. (1895), In the
Early Days: History and Incident of Pioneer Queensland.
Brisbane: Sapsford ; and, Knight, J.J. (1897), Brisbane:
A Historical Sketch of the Capital of Queensland.
Brisbane: Biggs and Morcom.
178
Shelton, E.M. (1892), "Tree-Planting for Shade and
Ornament: Suggestions for teachers and others interested
in the planting of trees," Bulletin No. 17, May, 1892, pp.
5-18. Brisbane: Department of Agriculture/Govt. Printer.
pg. 9.
119
LANDSCAPE AWARENESS 6: Queensland Difference
It's all on the antithesis. The contrasts.
The contradictions. Queensland means
living in townships called Dingo and
Banana and Gunpowder [and 1770] …
And the distance … Queensland has
maintained much of its quality of
abstraction, an idea – a genesis still
preserved in the current publication of the
Wild River Times. The vast spaces, the
smaller population bring unexpected
rencontres.180
BEING A
QUEENSLANDER –
BEING DIFFERENT?
by Jeannie Sim.
She identified the difference, even within
Queensland, between north and south:
"There is a saying in Queensland that the
real Australia doesn't start until you are
north of Rockhampton";181 and that northern
suspicion of political skulduggery includes
Brisbane even more so than Canberra. The
number of times North Queensland has
attempted to secede from Queensland over
than past century is further testimony to this
perception. Schultz also noted the
Queensland difference, as perceived by
'outsiders' such as visitors to prestige resorts
in Noosa or Port Douglas who declare "To
me Queensland is just another foreign
country" and as she observed herself:
The final discussion here presents the
personal interpretations of being a
Queenslander by two women: writer Thea
Astley and journalist Julianne Schultz. Of
course, there are many more writers of
prose, poetry and journal articles that could
be added to this list. Fortunately, Astley
reviews many of the notable writers up to
the 1970s in her lecture discussed here, and
this provides an overview of their
interpretations. These two writers identify a
widely
held
perception
among
Queenslanders (about themselves) and
among other Australians that Queenslanders
are different (from other Australians). For
Astley, this phenomenon is tied to the notion
of
distance,
heat,
frontier
straightforwardness, and the active pursuit
of difference:
Queensland is the "other" place in
Australia – God's own country of sand,
surf and sunshine. Hotter, blonder,
brasher, dumber, poorer – rather like the
old Australia used to be. Not far way, not
remote like Western Australia. Just over
the border, plan an hour from Sydney,
two from Melbourne, close enough to
intrude into the national consciousness. It
is of the nation to be different, very, very
different. The edge, the frontier, the raw,
untamed world just beyond the 30th
parallel, the Brisbane line. 182
The human race places great store on the
outward trappings of conventional
behaviour – or conformist behaviour.
Almost from the first, Queenslanders
made no attempt to reduplicate the
architecture of their southern neighbours.
Houses perched on stilts like teetering
swamp birds; and with the inroads of
white-ants not only teetered but
eventually flew away. And then we build
houses so that we can live underneath
them. Perhaps those stilts made
southerners think of us as baysidedwelling Papuans. Our dress, too, has
always been more casual. Our manners
are indifferent, laconic, in temperatures
that can run at over ninety [degrees
Fahrenheit] for weeks on end.179
The other side of this difference coin is the
disconnection or exclusion Queenslanders
feel about the rest of Australia. Schultz
wrote: "To their intense annoyance, many
who live in the Sunshine State are made to
feel like uninvited guests at the table of
national decision-making: not welcome and
certainly not understood, apologetically
Astley suggests that this 'difference' is the
key to understanding Queensland:
179
Astley, Thea (1978), Being a Queenslander: a form of
literary and geographical conceit. The Sixth Herbert
Blaiklock Memorial Lecture, delivered at University of
Sydney, 23 June 1976. Surry Hills, NSW: Wentworth
Press, pp. 3-4.
120
180
literary and geographical conceit. Surry Hills:
Wentworth Press, pg. 14.
181
182
Schultz, Julianne (1998), "Queensland, another country",
The Australian Magazine, July 25-26, 1998, pg. 32.
provincial."183 (and the butt of jokes).
However, this difference has given rise to
several innovations. The Labor Party and the
Democratic Labor Party were born in
Queensland – the left and right of politics.
Schultz wrote:
they're Queensland flies that crawl on
them.186
In 1998, there were ten right-wing One
Nation Party members elected to the
Queensland parliament. Schultz's article was
prepared as a result of the shock to the
national psyche: barbarism and ignorance
raising its ugly head in Queensland, so it
was 'amusingly' presented in southern
papers. Schultz noted:
The struggle against exclusion means that
time and again Queensland is the
wellspring of national change. It sets the
national agenda, changes the way we
think about ourselves. It was ahead of the
game in trading with Asia, and thanks to
One Nation it is again ahead of the game
– raising barriers.184
[Pauline]
Hanson's
oddness,
her
outspokenness, her ignorance, wasn't a
joke. She connected to an old Australia
which, like a grumpy giant with a massive
chip on its shoulder, awoke to claim the
future. The stereotypes and caricatures,
like the discredited century-old answers –
White Australia, agrarian socialism,
tariffs, infrastructure projects and lowinterest State banks – could be dusted off
and revived.187
Astley also observed this attitude:
I have an idea that Queenslanders were
not early conscious of a kind of federal
racism directed at them until late in the
[second world] war and after. The
scandalous implications of the Brisbane
Line which still brings a rush of blood to
the necks of old-timers were perhaps what
first
directed
the
Queenslander's
realisation that he was disregarded, a joke,
a butt, to the attempt to complete and
prove cultural worth.185
The negative side to the Queensland
difference has been addressed candidly also
by others. For instance, historians Ross
Fitzgerald and Bill Thorpe have identified
the strong development ethos and lack of
cultural diversity (matters discussed in the
meta-historical themes of 'development' and
'land'), while Henry Reynolds has provided a
much needed insight on the treatment of
indigenous Australians in history (as event
and account).
Another aspect of Queensland
distinctiveness is the tide of visitors and
migrants (from the southern states) that
regularly cross the borders. Being popular as
a holiday destination, has meant that many
Australians have a remembered connection
to Queensland as Schultz noted:
The result of these taunts about difference, is
a local patriotism, some would say
provincialism which Astley observed among
her fellow authors as well as the general
public.
Sometimes
this
"positive
pronouncement
on
the
aggressive
patriotism" is expressed with a critical wit,
as here by the reformed southerner poet Paul
Grano (born in Victoria and lived in Qld
since 1932):
Patriotism
(After visiting the Rest Room at the
Queensland Government Tourist Bureau).
All wood here used is Queensland wood,
the blossoms pictured are of Queensland
trees,
the table, too, is as it should be, a product of
our factories,
we must agree are not so good the paper
flowers with wiry stem
but let it quite be understood –
183
184
185
… the sparkling jewel of a million dollar
travel agency posters, Queensland is a
foreign
country
you
can
visit
unencumbered by passport, phrasebook or
traveller's cheques. Beautiful one day,
perfect the next … For those south of the
border it is tantalising odd yet familiar …
Many [of the recent migrants had] … a
prior connection to the State, childhood
memories of sun and mangoes and
weatherboard houses on stilts, halcyon
121
186
187
memories they wanted their children to
savour.188
rebelliousness
tamed,
the
culture
homogenised into the acceptable tourist pap
and the difference lost. From Thea Astley
comes this reminder linking literary truth
and local identity:
The search for a new start (lifestyle and
opportunities) in Queensland, unhindered by
prior situations, and within a lush warm
climate, has been a recurring theme in
migration to the State, from the earliest
pastoral squatters to the latest influx from
Victoria post-Kennett, as Schultz described:
Whether a writer takes his matter from an
isolated hamlet in Patagonia or the lushest
cities in Europe, the clichéd beauties of
the English countryside or the salt-pans
west of Isa, it is the manner in which
these things are seen and interpreted that
creates the truth and the poem – not the
thing itself … Only simplicity is truly
moving – which explains why one weeps
over Lawson's Mrs Spicer but not over
Laura Trevelyan's Voss. Grandeur
inspires awe and wonder. Rarely tears.
And of course simplicity is the heart of
the parish.192
In the "growth is good, development at all
costs" world of Queensland, the waves of
new arrivals were a good thing. Despite
the lingering jokes about Mexicans and
tick gates, the migrants proved the State
really was the most desirable part of
Australia, something no true-blue
Queenslander ever doubted.189
Both Astley and Schultz remarked about
Queensland as a source, these days, of
national "cultural richness", and attributed
the character of the land, lifestyle and
society for this phenomenon. Astley pointed
out the extraordinary richness of the
Queensland Education Department's School
Readers, and the effect from an early age of
being introduced to great literature (in small
and well illustrated amounts). She also noted
how by leaving the State, the heart grew
founder: "I don't think my love affair with
Queensland ripened into its mature madness
until I came south to live."190 Schultz wrote:
This review of Astley's paper and Schultz's
article reveals the richness of 'high' literature
and journalistic writings in providing
evidence about cultural perception and local
identity. However brief this overview,
several key explanations about perception
have been reveal. These include the
furthering of 'distance' as a key motivation
in history and that the Queensland difference
has both good and bad aspects to it. What
cannot be denied is the importance of these
perceptions (real or imagined) in the course
of history.
Much of the nation's cultural richness has
been crafted by Queenslanders who left,
their creative imaginations stamped by a
tropical or outback childhood. For
generations many of the best and brightest
have left the State, seeking bigger
opportunities, broader horizons, a more
open, less judgemental society.191
Thus, after years of self-deprecatory jokes
and
stories,
the
difference
about
Queenslanders is being realised as
something to be celebrated and enjoyed.
However, is so doing, the danger is that the
distances will be narrowed and bridged, the
188
The Australian Magazine, July 25-26, 1998, pp. 32-3.
189
190
191
192
122
7
INTERPRETING LANDSCAPE
AS TEXT
interpreting landscapes through
phenomenological hermeneutics
By Helen Armstrong
Landscape interpretation using phenomenological hermeneutics is currently a rich field of study
in the new area of Critical Cultural Geography. In Australia this has been applied to interpreting
tourist landscapes through the work of O'Hare (1997) and to the interpretation of migrant
landscapes though the work of Armstrong (1997).
Phenomenology and hermeneutics, although originating within the realm of philosophy, are
now widely used, particularly in Post-Structuralist studies where the data, visual or discursive,
are referred to as 'texts'. Phenomenological applications are seen in cultural studies, sociology,
cultural geography, art and design, and even legal studies. Within philosophy, phenomenology
has been a growing movement because it challenges the primacy of Cartesian logic and Hegel's
idea of 'absolute knowledge'. In the area of cultural geography, this has opened the door to
complex interpretations of cultural landscapes.
Through phenomenological studies, cultural landscape interpretations can be informed by the
essence of experience of the lived world (Spiegelberg, 1975, 1982). This can be augmented by
hermeneutics, the study of interpretations, where layers of meaning are revealed. The
application of hermeneutics occurs in those situations where meanings are encountered that are
not immediately understandable. Thus phenomenology in cultural landscape studies can be
summarised as focusing on people's unstructured descriptions of their lived experiences, while
hermeneutics interprets the way these experiences are evident in the landscape.
121
Landscape Awareness 7: Interpreting Landscape as Text
at the 'unofficial story' or the 'noir side' in
her study of marginalised groups and place,
Making the Invisible Visible (1998). Samuel
does not seek verifiable narratives. Instead
he argues for the role of 'metafiction' such as
Simon Schama's Landscape and Memory
(1995), a study which adds to historians'
concerns about the value of memory as a
legitimate text (Windshuttle, 1994). The
metafictions, Samuel suggests, show how
memory is "primitive, instinctual, [and]
naturally comes to mind" (1994:ix) whereas
history is considered to be self-conscious
and the product of analysis, taking abstract
reason as its guide. Equally, Connerton's
(1989) argues strongly that community
memories
have
validity.
Lowenthal
(1996:143) explores the tension between
history and heritage when interpreted
through memories. He cites Spence (1982)
as an example of the historian's concerns,
where Spence comments,
Introduction
In studying cultural landscapes through
phenomenological hermeneutics, it is
important to resist essentialist claims about
phenomena. Confusion often occurs when
'phenomena' are equated with 'things'
(Pickles,
1985).
Instead,
phenomenologically, we are interested in the
way things, landscapes, are constituted, ie
the intentionality. Duncan & Duncan's study
(Re)Reading the Landscape (1988:117)
shows how Post-Structuralist literary theory
provides a way of interpreting landscapes or
place as "transformations of realities". 'Place
as text' has been the focus of a number of
Post-Structuralist geographic interpretations
(Duncan and Ley, 1993). Perhaps the
clearest explanation of why landscapes are
data comes from Christopher Tilley's study,
A Phenomenology of Landscape (1994:33),
where he discusses the nexus between
stories and place. He suggests that
Those who chronicle their own pasts, alter
facts and tolerate fictions in ways that
would ban historians from academe.
Mistrusting memories that can neither be
verified or falsified, historians take a
jaundiced view of what psychology calls
narrative truth – accounts based solely on
unsupported recollection.
…when a story becomes sedimented into
the landscape, the story and the place
dialectically help to construct and
reproduce each other. Places help to recall
stories … and places only exist (as named
locales) by virtue of their emplotment in a
narrative.
While phenomenology does not supply
'facts', it nevertheless uses a particularly
rigorous procedure to interpret values.
Phenomenology provides a way of revealing
the values held about landscapes,
particularly values that are held by different
groups in the community. In Queensland,
there are a number of community groups
whose relationship to the landscape has not
been explored.
Applied phenomenology is a science, an art,
and a method as much as it is a philosophy
(Bartjes, 1991; Buttimer & Seamon, 1974;
Natanson, 1966).
Because of the cross-disciplinary nature of
landscape interpretations, phenomenological
applications involve rigorous methods as
well as the art of creative interpretations.
Pure phenomenology emerged with the
writings of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938).
He argued for the importance of returning to
phenomena as they are consciously
experienced without theories about their
causes, and for observing such phenomena
as freely as possible from unexamined
preconceptions
and
presuppositions
(Spiegelberg, 1975, 1982; Valle & Halling,
1989). Thus phenomenology can be
explained as a rigorous and unbiased study
Deep readings of values and meanings
related to place are often difficult to
understand and articulate, particularly if the
groups' values may not be part of the
mainstream culture. So the process of
gaining the 'text' is not easy. Most of the
narrative texts in landscape studies draw
from oral history and memories, which is
seen by some scholars as unreliable
(Windshuttle, 1994). Samuel, in his study
Theatres of Memory (1994), explores the
reticence by historians to value memory. In
this work, he argues for the validity of
'unofficial knowledge'. Sandercock also look
122
of things 'as they appear' so that one might
come to an understanding of the essences of
human experience. Husserl's main concern
was about understanding how we come to
know the world. He explored this through
the concept of 'life world' (lebenswelt) which
is the world of every day experience as
expressed in everyday language. Husserl,
nevertheless, considered his phenomenology
as a disciplined science. He suggested a
form of investigation which systematically
dissected phenomena by a process of
reductions into their 'essences'. Through this
process the many facets of a phenomenon
could be considered thus allowing for
multiple perceptions of a phenomenon
(Husserl, 1970).
evolution closely. Table 9 shows how the
relationship of each of these phases of
phenomenology relates to landscape
interpretations.
It would appear from Spiegelberg's succinct
and encompassing summary, all aspects of
phenomenology
contribute
to
an
understanding of landscape. But it is
hermeneutic phenomenology which can
clearly advance the understanding of how
the experience of landscape results in places
encoded with this experience. There is a
growing group of researchers who discuss
the value of the reflexive and critical
character of the interpretative process used
in phenomenology (Bartjes, 1991; Evans,
1988; Polkingthorne, 1989). Because of the
emphasis on teasing out concealed or hidden
meanings
associated
with
places,
hermeneutic phenomenology also has
relevance to the nature of values
communities have about the landscapes they
have created ie. whether they see these
landscapes as part of their heritage.
However, understanding landscape values
for communities requires sensitivity to the
phenomenological concept of time.
There are limitations in the use of pure
phenomenology to interpret landscapes,
particularly Hussserl's hermetic discipline of
distilling essences. Instead, it is valuable to
explore Heidegger's (1962) observation that
a rigorous, but hermetically sealed,
investigation of the essence of phenomena
precludes the unveiling of concealed
meanings within phenomena. Heidegger
(1962, 1971) drew from the study of
interpretations, known as hermeneutics,
calling his form of investigation hermeneutic
phenomenology. As well, landscape
interpretations can draw from developments
in existential-phenomenology (Sartre, 1966;
Merleau-Ponty, 1963) which sought to
explicate the essence of human experience
through descriptive rather than reductive
techniques
including
'disciplined
reflection'. Disciplined reflection involves a
commitment to the use of natural language
and conversation where phenomena speak
for themselves rather than being subjected to
predetermined hypotheses (Polkingthorne,
1989; Spielgelberg, 1975). In landscape
studies, this is achieved through a rigorous
analysis of transcribed conversations or
written material such as tourist brochures
and so on.
The phenomenological concept of time is
not ontologically real time (Heidegger,
1962; Polkingthorne, 1988; Sartre, 1966).
For community groups, when discussing
valued landscapes, time is not chronological
but experienced time. Phenomenological
time allows sensitivity to the processes of
identification with place. So when seeking to
understand place values it is important to
recognise that value statements may be
asked for at any point in a sequence, namely
places may be valued today, not valued
tomorrow and then valued again as
individuals try to reconcile their cultural
identity.
The different phases of hermeneutic
phenomenology are summarised by Herbert
Spiegelberg (1975) who has studied its
123
Table 9: Phases of the phenomenological method (after Spiegelberg, 1975).
PHENOMENOLOGICAL
PHASES
DESCRIPTION
RELEVANCE TO LANDSCAPE
Descriptive
phenomenology
Direct exploration, free from
presuppositions.
Redeeming what was seen as
unredeemable data; stimulates
one's perceptiveness about the
richness of the experience.
Grasping the essential structures
and essential relationships of
phenomena; allows for the
researcher's imaginativeness as
well as a sense of 'what is
essential and what is accidental.'
Cultivating attention to the way
things appear and the changes in
this appearance. It relates to the
physicality of phenomena;
heightens the researcher's sense
of the inexhaustibility of the
possible perspectives one can
have of phenomena.
The process in which phenomena
take shape in our consciousness.
Exploring the dynamic aspects of
our experiences.
Bracketing the experienced world
in order to give us new
perceptions of phenomena.
Intellectual self-discipline and
intellectual humility.
Looking for hidden meanings
associated with phenomena.
Directions and intentions rather
than descriptions.
Free description of the experience of
landscapes. Heightening our awareness of
the richness of everyday life.
Phenomenology of
Essences
Phenomenology of
Appearances
Constitutive
Phenomenology
Reductive
Phenomenology
Hermeneutic
Phenomenology
INTERPRETATIONS
Determining what is essential to the
landscape experience and what is accidental
or contingent. Can lead to responsible
generalisations.
This is a play of perspectives associated
with the physicality of places. The different
ways of seeing according to light, shade,
seasonality etc.
The way in which landscape constitutes
itself. Exploring the dynamic aspects of
landscape experiences.
Provides us with insights into the world of
others and prevents us from stereotyping.
Finding the meanings in a particular
landscape that are not immediately obvious.
particular significance in interpreting values
held about landscapes.
May (1994, 1996a, 1996b) in his study of
the effect of space-time compression on
place identity, draws from Heidegger's
concept that place is understood as an
experience captured in the notion of
'dwelling.' Most commonly the experience
of dwelling is made possible through a long
residence in a particular place where the
place becomes 'time thickened' through the
structure of memory (May, 1994:26). May
(1994:31) considered that in such cases,
"national identity works through a hierarchy
of geographic identities within which any
individual may claim identification with
different places at different times". This has
Interpreting Concealed Meanings:
Hermeneutics
Using hermeneutics to study landscapes
involves the disciplines of philosophy and
literary studies. Both phenomenology and
hermeneutics are similar in their subject
matter and methods however they draw from
different
philosophical
traditions.
Phenomenology
requires
a
presuppositionless state for the process of
reduction whereas hermeneutics emphasises
contextual
foreknowledge.
Working
phenomenologically one must stay within
the rigour of interpreting only the
124
experiences as they appear, nevertheless one
can interpret the subjective meaning of
values using verstehen or empathetic
understanding (Minichiello et al, 1990;
Pickles, 1985).
rigorous phenomenology which required
researchers (interpreters) to remove their
biases by a process known as 'bracketing'
(Gadamer, 1975). He suggested that a
process where one seeks to understand
another's horizons by abandoning one's own,
involves a self alienation that is the
antithesis of understanding (Spiegelberg,
1975).
Traditionally hermeneutics was undertaken
on completed texts. Landscapes are texts
which change. Their interpretations can be
quite fluid when they are developed from
community discussions about valued places.
Such interpretations frequently have to allow
for multiple and sometimes contested
meanings.
In the forty years since the publication of
Gadamer's Truth and Method (1960),
hermeneutics has come to be regarded as an
international
and
interdisciplinary
movement. Gadamer not only subjected
literary criticism to questioning, he also
applied a thorough critique to historical
research, indicating that scholars studying
history and the literary and artistic
production of the past belong to a world of
constantly interpreted and reinterpreted
events and works (Misgeld, 1991:163).
Another interpretative issue relates to
hermeneutic completion. Although some
argue that good interpretation is a fully
interpreted finished product (Hirsch, 1967),
others
argue
that
a
hermeneutic
interpretation is never finished (Gadamer,
1976). There is, however, general agreement
that interpretative paradigms allow for
multiple constructions of meaning (Kvale,
1983, 1995; Sanderlowski, 1993, 1995).
In contrast, researchers such as Hirsch, are
looking for 'absolute truth and meaning'
using traditional research. Other researchers
see this search for an 'absolute-in-itself'
(Madison, 1988:13) as a frustrating and
ultimately counter productive pursuit,
because such a phenomenon is unlikely to
exist, particularly where values are
multifarious and often contested.
Debates About Hermeneutics
In the 1970s there were many arguments
around
objectivity-subjectivity
in
interpretations of meanings and values,
expressed as the difference between
positivistic
hermeneutics
versus
philosophical
hermeneutics.
Positivist
hermeneutics is employed by many heritage
and cultural landscape theorists whose
interpretations about places and their value
are derived from objective rigour and
mapping (Melnick, 1989; Kerr, 1990). In
philosophical circles this position is argued
by E. D. Hirsch (1967) who puts forward a
science of interpretation. This is in contrast
to phenomenological hermeneutics argued
by the philosopher, H.G. Gadamer (1976)
who maintained that hermeneutics is not a
science but an art of interpretation. Both
Smith (1988) and Geertz (1973, 1983),
ethnographers who work on constructing
local knowledge in communities, similarly
support the concept that interpreting place
values is an art. Gadamer maintained an
anti-methodological stance, focussing his
criticism on the techniques associated with
In terms of rigour, the validation of an
interpretation can be seen as the unfolding
and reciprocal confirmation of successive
experiences and their interpretations. So
when the researcher opts for a given
interpretation, it is not because it is known
to be true, but because the researcher
believes it to be the most appropriate one.
While many landscape values can be
determined by historical scholarship
where the researcher can work alone
closely scrutinising historical resources,
this is in strong contrast to the way one
must work to determine the social
significance of landscapes. Where the
researcher is determining the heritage
values within a community group, the art
of dialogue and discourse become the key
mechanisms to reveal meanings and
values.
The way Gadamer saw the creative potential
in understanding meanings and values
125
through discursive speech provides insights
for landscape interpretations. He drew from
Plato and Socrates in establishing the central
point for his hermeneutic theory.
Christopher Smith (1991:37), in an essay on
Gadamer and hermeneutics, explains how
Plato acts as the impulse for Gadamer's
hermeneutic theory.
interpretation of conversations. He proposes
that a satisfactory theory of hermeneutics
should include a set of criteria to adhere to
in the actual work of interpreting (Madison,
1988:29-37). This allows for subjective
interpretations but ensures that judgements
arrived at are not gratuitous or the result of
subjective whim. The criteria facilitate
rational judgements based on persuasive
arguments.
Such
judgements
or
interpretations can be defended in that they
embody or conform to certain generally
accepted norms or principles.
We learn precisely from Plato that an
understanding of something is reached in
a dialogical process, i.e., in discussion.
Understanding occurs not in subjective
thought but in an interrogative discursive
exchange between speakers: "What
emerges in its truth is the logos that is
neither mine nor yours and thus exceeds
the subjective beliefs of the partners in the
discussion to such an extent that even the
leader of the discussion remains
unknowing" (WM,350). The allusion
obviously, is to Socrates' "learned
ignorance", which far from being a mere
ploy, establishes the interrogative spirit of
enquiry (Zetesis) needed for any
dialegesthai.
It is important to distinguish between
literary texts which are complete as well
as being well articulated, highly
condensed expressions of meaning, ie
'eminent texts' (Kvale, 1883:186) and
texts derived from interviews, discussion
groups and reports and promotional
brochures. The latter are often vague,
repetitious, with many digressions. Thus
one needs care in drawing direct analogies
with traditional hermeneutics. Despite
this, there are certain principles that are
applicable regardless of the sources of the
text as shown in the following
methodological table generated from
Madison's criteria for literary texts.
In
landscape
interpretations,
new
understandings emerge through the process
of letting go opinions and allowing the state
of 'unknowing' to persist until a form of new
knowledge materialises from the discussion.
A number of disciplines are now seeing the
promise of hermeneutics as a productive
research approach in terms of human
understanding and the relation between
language and meaning (Madison, 1988).
Hermeneutics can therefore be legitimately
used to explore landscape values however,
the method of hermeneutic interpretations
needs to be clearly articulated.
Madison stresses that these criteria are
merely an articulation of what generally
occurs in practice. This, however, does not
mean that interpretations cannot be
rigorously derived. As Madison says,
rigorously derived interpretations are "an art
in the proper sense of the term" (1988:33).
Similarly the interpretations do not need to
be "universally and eternally valid". They
need only be generally accepted. The art of
interpretation is driven by a belief that
meaning and therefore the rationale behind
action often lies beneath commonsense
understandings
articulated
by
the
respondents themselves. May (1994) argues
that this can only be reached through the
researcher's relation to a deeper theoretical
position.
Hermeneutic Methods
Debates about the most appropriate form of
hermeneutics (Knockelmans, 1991) need to
be
considered
when
undertaking
hermeneutic studies of landscapes. The
philosopher, Madison, argues for a position
somewhere in between the extremes of
Hirsh's
positivist
hermeneutics
and
Gadamer's anti-methodological stand. He
suggests that a "viable hermeneutics must
allow for method" (Madison, 1988:27)
particularly when two researchers may
disagree on the meaning of a text or
126
LANDSCAPE Awareness 7: Interpreting Landscape as Text
Table 10: Criteria for interpreting texts (Madison, 1988:30).
CRITERIA
Coherence
LITERARY TEXT INTERPRETATIONS
The interpretation must be coherent in itself; it must present a unified picture
and not contradict itself. This hold true even if the work being interpreted has
contradictions of its own. The interpreter must make coherent sense of all the
contradictions.
Comprehensive
This concerns the relation of the interpretation in itself to the work as a whole. In
interpreting an author's thought one must take into account his thoughts as a whole
and not ignore works which bear on the issue.
Penetration
It should bring out a guiding or underlying intention in the work i.e. recognising the
author's attempts to resolve a central problematic.
Thoroughness
A good interpretation should attempt to deal with all the questions it poses to the
interpreted text.
Appropriate
Interpretations must be ones that the text itself raises and not an occasion for dealing
with one's own questions.
Contextuality
The author's work must be seen in its historical and cultural context.
Suggestiveness
A good understanding will be fertile in that it will raise questions that stimulate
further research and questions.
Agreement
The interpretation must agree with what the author actually says. This is in contrast to
reductive hermeneutics characteristic of Marxism or Freudianism.
Potential
The interpretation is capable of being extended and continues to unfold
harmoniously.
the study of tropes can help us see the way
people make sense of the world. He states
that
The Significance of Metaphors,
Tropes and Creativity
Metaphor has increasingly
assumed
importance for applied hermeneutics. The
essence of metaphor in a social sense is the
understanding or experience of one kind of
thing in terms of another. The pervasiveness
of metaphors in everyday discourse suggests
that they are critical mechanisms by which
meaning is imbued in texts. Corner (1991), a
landscape theorist, suggests the power of
metaphor for interpretive work related to
place lies in its ambiguity. Metaphors can
also be described as 'tropes' or figures of
speech. The rhetoric of language allows the
researcher to uncover tropes (metaphors,
metonyms, synecdoche etc) which encode
meanings in landscape 'texts'. ,White, in his
Tropics of Discourse (1978:5), argues that
understanding is a process of rendering
the unfamiliar… familiar, of removing it
from the domain of things felt to be
"exotic" and unclassified into another
domain of experience encoded [through
tropes] to be … non-threatening, or
simply known by association.
Interpreting metaphors and tropes not only
requires a strong theoretical framework, it
also draws from the researcher's creativity.
Using creativity in hermeneutics is argued
for strongly by Patton (1990), Sanderlowski
(1993, 1995), and Smith (1988). The art of
interpretation needs to allow for creative,
exploratory, even playful ideas in order to be
insightful. It is in this way that the leaps in
127
imagination required to comprehend the
world of others can occur (Smith, 1988).
The creativity involved in interpretations has
particular relevance for concepts related to
transformed culture is reflected in
landscapes – a concept of hybridity which
draws from Derrida (1972) and others
including the landscape theorist, Meyer,
(1993) who interprets landscapes as the
"space-in-between" or "thirdspace".
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